Biofuel green credentials: DEBUNKED!

By Davey Winder
Thursday, 14 August 2008 15:52

Science - Energy

A new report from the UK Renewable Fuels Agency admits that only 19 percent of biofuels meet environmental standards...

Driving green is an ever increasingly important issue, what with the price of oil and the impact on the environment of doing otherwise. Biofuel, we are consistently told, is the sustainable and environmentally friendly answer.

The Renewable Fuels Agency itself would seem to contradict this assumption.

The RFA has published its first monthly report on the supply of biofuels. This shows that in the UK biofuels accounted for some 2.14 percent of UK road fuel, just underneath the 2.5 percent yearly target.

The RFA report also shows that biodiesel accounts for some 86 percent of the biofuel supply, with bioethanol lagging behind on 14 percent.

Most biofuel originates outside of the UK, with American soy being the most widespread feedstock on 22 percent when it comes to biodiesel and Brazilian sugarcane accounting for some 79 percent of bioethanol feedstock.

But the real shocker has to be the admission that only 19 percent of those biofuels met environmental standards!

That is worth repeating: only 19 percent of biofuels net environmental standard against an already pretty low target figure of 30 percent.

Yes, the RFA does reveal that greenhouse gas savings of some 42 percent were achieved. However, this has to be seen in the light of the recent Gallagher Review which looks at the emissions from the indirect changes in land use as a result of biofuel production.

Those emissions were excluded when calculating the 42 percent savings figure.

Asad Roman, biofuels campaigner with the Friends of the Earth, says "That less than a fifth of the biofuels used fail to meet even minimal environmental standards adds further weight to Friends of the Earth's view that they are a phoney solution to climate change."

He goes on to claim that the "shocking admission" that we are unable to identify the origin of nearly half the biofuels used in the UK means that the Government cannot assure the British people that the biofuels in their petrol tanks have not destroyed rainforests.

Which is a damn good point, methinks.

Friends of the Earth conclude that "The Government must put the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation on hold and vote against EU biofuels targets."