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<h4>EU signals no U-turn on renewable transport policy in report examining effect of biofuel on ILUC.  Environmental groups still critical of 10 percent renewable transport policy.</h4>

With a lawsuit filed against the European Commission for failing to release studies investigating the impact of biofuels on the environment, the EU published its first major impact assessment into the effect of biofuel on indirect land use change.  The suit arose out of fear that the Commission may be classifying dense palm oil plantations as “forest” to allow companies to conceal an alteration of the vegetation, and in turn to retain their sustainability credentials.

The report, compiled for the Commission by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), concludes that indirect land-use change has “an important effect on the environmental sustainability of biofuels”.  Nevertheless, it argues that current EU renewable energy targets are small enough to safeguard the environmental sustainability of biofuels.  Accordingly, the EU is sticking by its target requiring 10 percent of all road transport fuel to come from renewable sources by 2020, despite media reports suggesting that the EU might U-turn on its biofuel policy.

The released report contains models that show a connection between the increased use of biofuels and higher indirect greenhouse gas emissions, but also show that the net outcome is still positive compared to a business as usual approach (e.g. continued use of fossil fuels).  The report assumes that only 5.6 percent of renewable transport energy would come from biofuels.

Friends of the Earth have countered by arguing that any rise in biofuels proportion of renewable road transport fuels above 5.6 percent would likely result in indirect land use change that could undermine the environmental benefits of biofuels.  Adrian Bebb, European agrofuels campaign coordinator at Friends of the Earth Europe, notes:

The EU’s biofuels strategy is looking more and more unsustainable…the EU policy is gambling with the world’s tropical forests, with food crisis and with climate change.

The report is the first in a series of four studies the EU executive has commissioned as a contribution to its own report on indirect land-use change caused by greenhouse gas emissions. That report, due out by the year’s end, will measure the extent to which the production of first-generation biofuels contributes to emissions by replacing crops grown for food production and accelerating deforestation. It will outline measures to address the issue.

Image: Flickr/leoffreitas