Petrol and diesel industry may be contributing to rainforest destruction
Responding to the introduction of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) last night, Greenpeace forest campaigner Belinda Fletcher said:
"This obligation puts no proper safeguards in place, meaning that these targets are worse than useless at tackling climate change. Biofuels made from crops like palm oil are directly leading to rainforest destruction in places like Indonesia and significantly increasing global emissions of greenhouse gases. The government should focus instead on tough fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks right here in the UK."
The obligation will mean that by April 2008 all fuel suppliers will be required to ensure that 2.5 per cent of their sales in the UK come from biofuels - rising up to 5 per cent by 2010.
By the government's own admission, the order will come into force before any kind of "working standard" is in place to ensure that the production of these fuels is not harming the environment. This means that between now and 2011, there will be no way of preventing manufacturers from flooding the UK market with biofuels that are causing rainforest destruction and driving up the price of food for some of the world's poorest people.
Fletcher continued: "It's remarkable that only one party - the Conservatives - realised that this piece of legislation has serious drawbacks and voted against it."
A Department for Transport briefing released this month admitted that "there is currently no internationally agreed definition of a 'sustainable biofuel', nor a working standard that could be imposed." (1)
Concerns over biofuels have also been raised by the UN and the OECD as well as numerous academics, environmental and developmental NGOs. These concerns are also extending into the commercial sector - National Express recently suspended its trials of biodiesel. On Thursday 18th October, The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, criticised biofuels for pushing up world food prices, saying: "It's a total disaster for those who are starving." (2)
(1) www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/environment/rtfo/289579
(2) www.swissinfo.org/eng/swissinfo.html...
