renewable fuels agency

Biofuels failing 'green' standards

Posted by jamie — 7 August 2008 at 1:37pm - Comments

From today's Guardian:

"Less than a fifth of the biofuel used on UK roads meets environmental standards intended to safeguard human rights and guarantee carbon savings, figures released today show.

"The Renewable Fuels Agency says just 19% of the biofuel supplied under the government's new initiative to use biofuel to help tackle global warming met the green standard. For the remaining 81% of the biofuel, suppliers could not say where it came from, or could not prove that it had been produced in a sustainable way."

But even this "green" standard is misleading, as it ignores the side-effects of biofuel production such as massive deforestation:

"The standard does not include carbon emissions from indirect effects such as changes in land use caused by biofuel planting, which experts have warned could cancel out their environmental benefits."

Article tagged as: biofuels, climate change, deforestation, forests, renewable fuels agency

Last edited 1 January 1970 at 1:00am
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Last edited 1 January 1970 at 1:00am
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Media Brief – Gallagher Review to be published early July

Last edited 7 July 2008 at 4:28pm
Publication date: 
7 July, 2008

The Gallagher Review is a major study commissioned by the UK Government on the 'indirect' or 'displacement' impacts of biofuels on carbon emissions from land use change and on food security. It is being conducted by the Renewable Fuels Agency - a new body set up to administer UK biofuel policy. This briefing describes what biofuels are, explains the difference between direct and indirect impacts of biofuels and the implications for biofuels policies in the UK and EU.

Download the report:
Article tagged as: biofuels, co2 emissions, food security, renewable fuels agency

Government announces major biofuel review - Greenpeace responds

Last edited 21 February 2008 at 4:04pm
21 February, 2008

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".

Article tagged as: biofuels, climate change, palm oil, press releases, renewable fuels agency, RFA, RTFO

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