Archived press release

UK 'green' fuels will destroy an extra 1.6m ha of natural habitat by 2020

8 November 2010

The UK's increasing demand for biofuels will destroy more natural habitat and create more climate changing emissions than previously estimated, new research launched today by environmental and development charities reveals.

 The analysis of national biofuel action plans for Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, the RSPB and ActionAid shows that, to meet its renewable energy target for transport, the UK has chosen to implement the highest increase in the use of biofuels of any EU country - making it the biggest importer of biofuels in Europe.

It shows that factors not currently accounted for in biofuel policies mean that the UK's drive for biofuel could destroy an extra 1.6 million hectares of wildlife habitat - bigger than the size of Northern Ireland - by 2020. And up to 13 mega tonnes of additional carbon dioxide emissions could be created per year - equivalent to putting nearly six million extra cars on the roads.

The charities explain that in addition to converting vast areas of rainforest and grassland into monoculture plantations, making space for biofuel production will force other farming activity in producer countries deeper into forests. This displacement of farming activity, they say, will cause extra deforestation, loss of wildlife habitats, and carbon dioxide emissions - as well as increasing food prices, hitting some of the world's poorest people hardest.

Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, RSPB and ActionAid are calling on the Government and the EU to stop relying on biofuels to meet renewable energy targets for transport, and to make smarter cars that use less fuel or run on green electricity. In the meantime the charities want indirect land use change 'factors' brought into new legislation that account for the full scale of the impact of biofuels on habitats, climate change and food security.

Friends of the Earth's Biofuels Campaigner Kenneth Richter said:

"This research reveals the scale of the damage that misguided biofuels targets will cause to forest habitats and communities - and the UK is set to have the worst track record in Europe.

"Using more biodiesel in our cars won't help to green transport - our research shows that when the full impact of their production is taken into account, biofuels cause more emissions than the fossil fuels they replace.

"To avoid trashing rainforests and increasing climate changing emissions, the Government must urgently scrap biofuel targets - as well as investing in greener cars and public transport."

ActionAid's Biofuels Policy Advisor Tim Rice said:

"As well as not being a climate-friendly solution to our energy needs, targets to increase biofuels in the UK could mean millions more poor people are driven into hunger as biofuels push up the price of staple crops such as wheat and maize.

"Biofuel targets effectively give companies a blank cheque to continue grabbing land from the world's poor to grow biofuels that will fill people's cars rather than their stomachs."

Greenpeace UK's Chief Policy Advisor Ruth Davis said:

"Most biofuels in use today increase greenhouse gas emissions, destroy wildlife and threaten vulnerable communities.

"But unlike other kinds of oil, biofuels include the three magic letters 'bio' - making them the perfect greenwash for today's wasteful and polluting vehicles.

"Instead of using land for fuel, we need to go beyond oil - that means more efficient engines, and more support for electric cars."

RSPB Director of International Operations Tim Stowe said:

"We are seeing the impact of European renewable fuel targets first hand with our work in Kenya. The Tana River Delta and the Dakatcha Woodlands are both hugely important areas for wildlife and they are currently at risk from irresponsible and unsustainable biofuel plantations.

"Trees will be cleared, wetlands will be under threat and a range of species will be pushed to the brink if these proposals go ahead. The threatened Clarke's weaver bird will be driven to extinction first, but who knows how many more species will follow. Our message is clear: biofuels targets must be scrapped or wildlife will suffer."

ENDS

Notes to editor

1. For a joint NGO media briefing 'Driving to Destruction', comparing the environmental impact of the biofuel policies of different EU countries, see http://www.foeeurope.org/agrofuels/ILUC_briefing_November2010.pdf. 

For the full research, carried out by the Institute for European Environmental Policy, see http://www.foeeurope.org/agrofuels/ILUC_report_November2010.pdf.

2.    The research includes indirect land use change (ILUC) impacts caused by biofuel production, i.e. extra habitat ruined and emissions created by biofuel production displacing existing local agricultural activity in producer countries. This makes it the most realistic assessment by any organisation to date of the real world impacts of EU biofuel targets. It comes on the close of a European Commission consultation on how to take account of the impacts of indirect land use change in biofuels policy.

3.    The EU has set a mandatory target for all member states to fuel 10 per cent of their transport from renewable energy by 2020. According to its National Renewable Action Plan the UK aims to meet this target entirely through biofuels made from crops - not by electric cars, biofuels from waste, or any other alternative form of renewable energy in transport.

4.    For more information on the effects of biofuel expansion on people, wildlife and the climate please see:

Three Friends of the Earth Europe case studies on indirect land use change and emissions from palm oil, soy and sugar cane in areas such as Brazil http://www.foeeurope.org/publications/publications.htm
Two RSPB case studies showing how internationally important wildlife habitats in Kenya are currently under threat from biofuels:

A biofuels project proposed in the Dakatcha Woodland area, a designated Important Bird area, could threaten the Clarke's Weaver with extinction, and will also displace an estimated 20,000 people. http://www.birdlife.org/community/2010/07/birdlife-africa-position-on-biofuels-and-proposed-dakatcha-project/
 
Another project in the Tana River Delta, at the centre of 'a new scramble for Africa' and involving British company G4 Industries Limited, threatens a wide range of wetland species including tbirds such as the endangered Basra reed warbler, Tana River Red Colobus and Tana River Crested Mangabey, and also hippos, lions, elephants, buffaloes and many breeding fish and amphibians. http://www.tanariverdelta.org/tana/welcome.html

The recent ActionAid report  'Meals Per Gallon: the impact of industrial biofuels on people and global hunger' http://www.actionaid.org.uk/doc_lib/meals_per_gallon_final.pdf
 
5. Spokespeople from Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, RSPB and ActionAid, are available for comment. Please contact Marie Reynolds at Friends of the Earth's press office on 0207 566 1649.

To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust