The introduction of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) tomorrow could seriously undermine the UK's claim to leadership on climate change and increase emissions from the transport sector, according to Greenpeace.

The group claims that new rules to oblige motorists to pump biofuels into their tanks will drive rainforest destruction and could actually accelerate global warming.

The law does nothing to prevent biofuels grown on newly deforested land from being sold in the UK. Suppliers are only required to "report" the details of the crops they are using - a process which can be easily manipulated to hide the true origin of environmentally damaging crops like palm oil.

The Government admits there will be no sustainability standards for biofuels in place until at least 2011.

Forest destruction is responsible for about one fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. The destruction of Indonesia's peatland forests, an area covering just 0.1 per cent of the world's surface, now accounts for 4 per cent of annual global emissions. (1) This forest destruction is being driven by the expansion of palm oil plantations, increasingly for use in biofuels.

Reacting to the news, senior forests campaigner Belinda Fletcher said:

"Right now, rainforests are being destroyed to make way for biofuel crops in places like Indonesia. This destruction leads to massive greenhouse gas emissions and completely undermines the point of these so called ‘green fuels'.

"The government claims its plans will promote the best biofuels, but in reality there is nothing to stop the use of crops like Indonesian palm oil being pumped into our fuel tanks. At a time when the world's leading scientists are warning us of the madness of cutting down rainforests to grow crops for fuel, to press ahead with these plans is incredibly reckless.

The real solution is staring us in the face: make cars far more fuel efficient."

ENDS

Footnotes:

(1) www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/reports/cooking-the-climate

Notes to editors:

Greenpeace commissioned tests on a sample of Tesco diesel. These tests were carried out by an independent laboratory and show that the diesel currently being sold on Tesco's forecourts, which contains 5% biodiesel, is made up of approximately 30% palm oil and 70% soya.

This diesel was from Tesco's fuel station in Edmonton, which Greenergy admits to supplying.

For more contact the Greenpeace press office on 0207 865 8255.

A coalition of some of Britain's biggest environmental and development groups has warned the Government that its biofuel policy risks doing more harm than good in the fight against climate change and global poverty. The organisations are demanding that ministers delay the introduction of legislation which would see biofuels pumped into every tank in the country from April 15th 2008. 

In a letter to Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, the groups - Oxfam, CAFOD, RSPB, IIED, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, One World and Operation Noah - criticise the upcoming Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) and assert that "there is a very real risk that the RTFO will make climate change worse, not better."

A coalition of some of Britain's biggest environmental and development groups have sent a joint letter (1) to Government warning that the UK's biofuel policy risks doing more harm than good in the fight against climate change and global poverty.

The intervention intensifies pressure on the Government following a BBC interview in which Professor Bob Watson, DEFRA's chief scientific advisor, cast serious doubt on the plans and insisted that it would be "insane" if the policy ended up having the opposite effect to the one intended. (2)

In a letter to Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, the groups - including Oxfam, CAFOD, RSPB, IIED, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace (3) - criticise the upcoming Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) and assert that "there is a very real risk that the RTFO will make climate change worse, not better."

The organisations are demanding that ministers delay the introduction of this legislation, which would see biofuels pumped into every tank in the country from April 15th 2008.

The letter goes on to explain further problems connected to the production of biofuels. These include spiraling food prices in the developing world, increases in the incidence of land conflicts and human rights abuses, the destruction of tropical forests, savannah and grasslands for crop cultivation and the need for high levels of public investment to make biofuels economically viable.

The groups demand that the legislation is postponed until safeguards are put in place to protect against these negative impacts. A Government led review into biofuels was announced only this month and the new, Treasury-commissioned King Review of low carbon cars suggests that to deliver meaningful emissions reductions the focus of policy should be shifted away from biofuels and towards engine efficiency.

The letter claims that given these emerging views it would be illogical for ministers to press ahead at this moment in time. (4)

Doug Parr, Greenpeace's Chief Scientific Adviser said: "From next month British motorists will be forced to pump biofuels into their tanks with no way of knowing if the so-called green fuels they're using are actually worse for the climate than regular fossil fuels. For one of the Government's top scientists to describe these plans as potentially insane suggests that something has gone seriously wrong here. The targets should be scrapped. Pressing ahead regardless of the consequences for the climate would be incredibly reckless."

Abigail Bunker, Agriculture Policy Officer of The RSPB said: "Biofuels threaten untold damage to unique wildlife habitats across the world. Their production is already causing the destruction of rainforest, peatlands and grasslands and the release of huge amounts of carbon stored by trees and soil. Thousands of people last week urged the government to shelve its plans to force us to buy more biofuel. Ministers must heed those pleas not bulldoze through more biofuel use."

Kenneth Richter, Biofuels Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said: "It would be irresponsible to press ahead with volume targets for biofuels in the UK and the EU while there is no scientific consensus about their climate impacts and at a time when experts are still scratching their heads about how to adequately safeguard against their potentially catastrophic impacts on people and the environment."

Robert Bailey, Oxfam Biofuels Policy Lead said: "The RTFO should be delayed until the Government can guarantee that the UK's biofuels will neither make climate change worse, nor come at the expense of the environment and the livelihoods of people in developing countries."

George Gelber, Head of Public Policy at CAFOD said: "The government's Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor John Beddington has warned about the impacts of biofuels on food security, just at a time when the world's poorest people are faced with rocketing prices of their basic foods. In addition, recent reports doubt the ability of biofuels to reduce greenhouse gases. The government needs to look before it leaps in committing to biofuels"

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Recent scientific evidence has shown that many biofuels (such as those made from palm oil grown on newly deforested land) are actually more damaging to the climate than their fossil fuel equivalents. Meanwhile using seemingly innocuous crops (like oilseed rape, grown far from rainforests) may not be a solution either. As the demand for oil produced from these crops will continue for other purposes like food, it means that the industry will jut replace them increasing the imports of other crops such as palm oil. This crop is heavily linked with deforestation in Indonesia which creates massive greenhouse gas emissions.

FOOTNOTES

(1) The full text of the letter can be read at online.

(2) Bob Watson was interviewed by the BBC's environmental analyst Roger Harrabin on the Today Programme, Monday 24th March 2008

(3) IIED: International Institute for Environment and Development; CAFOD: Catholic Agency for Overseas Development. One World and Operation Noah are also signatories.

(4) The study will be conducted by the UK's new Renewable Fuels Agency and will look both at the immediate impact of biofuels and at so-called "indirect effects". www.gnn.gov.uk/Content/Detail.asp?...

Contact:

Greenpeace: James Turner - 07766 165323

Oxfam: Lucy Brincombe - 07786 110054

Friends of the Earth: Kenneth Richter - 020 7566 1671

RSPB: Abi Bunker - 01767 693438

CAFOD: Fiona Callister - 020 7095 5558

Greenpeace today welcomed the government's announcement of a scientific review into the impacts of biofuels, but insisted that Britain's biofuel targets be suspended until the full consequences of the technology are properly understood.

The study, to be conducted by the UK's new Renewable Fuels Agency (1), will look both at the immediate impact of biofuels and at so-called "indirect effects".

For example, these effects include an increase in demand for palm oil, which is imported into the EU to be used in the food industry because homegrown rape seed oil is increasingly being used in biofuels. Palm oil is heavily linked with deforestation in Indonesia, which creates massive greenhouse gas emissions (2).

Recent scientific evidence shows that these "indirect effects" could produce huge greenhouse gas emissions which would more than negate any potential savings that biofuels can offer over conventional fuels like petrol and diesel (3).

However, current government and EU policies will oblige all suppliers to include biofuels in the fuel mix over the next few years. The UK policy, called the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, comes into operation on 15 April this year. From this date, every forecourt in the country will have to provide 2.5 per cent of its fuel from biofuel sources - rising to 5% by 2010.

Responding to the news, John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK said: "The scientific evidence is mounting - biofuels are often more damaging to the climate than the fossil fuels they are designed to replace. While it's good news that the Government has commissioned a report to assess the consequences of these fuels, the fact remains that from April this year we'll be forced to pump biofuels into our petrol tanks. The government needs to introduce a moratorium on the UK's biofuel targets until this review has been published."

Biofuels currently make up a proportion of the EU's 2020 renewable energy target. Greenpeace believes that it is essential that if biofuels are taken out of this mix then the headline target remains the same, and the shortfall is made up by the electricity and heat sectors - where technologies such as wind, wave, tidal, solar, biomass, biogas and hydro power can all contribute.

Indeed, it is widely accepted that using biofuels in the transport sector is far less effective than using the same land to grow biomass (like wood chip) for use in the heating and electricity sectors.

Sauven continued: "The uncertainty over biofuels must not be used as an excuse to derail the EU's ambitious renewable energy targets. We need to produce 20 per cent of our energy from renewables by 2020 to show real leadership at tackling climate change - but we can achieve this without the use of biofuels."

(1)See announcement at www.gnn.gov.uk/Content/... and more about the Renewable Fuel Agency at www.dft.gov.uk/rfa/abouttherfa.cfm
(2) See www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/reports/cooking-the-climate
(3) Searchinger et al, Science, published online 7 Feb 2008. www.sciencemag.org/cgi/rapidpdf/1151861.pdf

The environmental credentials of "first generation" biofuels were today thrown into serious doubt after the European commissioner, DEFRA's chief scientist and the Royal Society all expressed concern over their sustainability and effectiveness.

Both the EU and United Kingdom government have set targets for the use of biofuels, and the industry is booming despite an absence of universally agreed sustainability criteria. A recent Greenpeace report showed how the production of palm oil, an emerging source of biofuel, is leading to rainforest destruction in Indonesia and a massive increase in the region's C02 emissions (1). This means that certain types of biofuels could be worse than useless in combating climate change.

Today the image of biofuels came under scrutiny from three different sources:

• The Royal Society criticised a new piece of UK legislation - the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) - which will require all transport fuels to contain 5 per cent biofuel by 2010. Their new report (2) warns that biofuels risk failing to deliver significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from transport and could even be environmentally damaging without strict government oversight. It complains that the legislation does not include an explicit target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said it would be better to miss the EU's own target (a 10 per cent biofuel "mix" by 2020) than achieve it by harming the poor or damaging the environment. Dimas told the BBC Today programme "We have seen that the environmental problems caused by biofuels and also the social problems are bigger than we thought they were. So we have to move very carefully".
• DEFRA's chief scientist, Professor Bob Watson, also told the BBC Today programme "We should not use biofuels if it leads to other environmental and social problems". He went on to describe any policy that exacerbates the problem it was designed to address - a reference to UK biofuel policy - as "ridiculous".

Reacting to the news, Greenpeace Executive Director John Sauven said: "The dangers of mass biofuel production need to be taken seriously because as things stand biofuels could be worse than useless at combating climate change. But UK government targets mean that soon motorists will be forced to pump these fuels into their tanks, with no way of knowing where they're coming from. We need to be sure that when we fill up we are not trashing the world's rainforests. A better, quicker solution would be to make our cars far more fuel efficient."

NOTES:

(1) www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/reports/cooking-the-climate