The European Union recently published a report proposing to supply 20% of Europe’s transport with bio-fuels by 2020, thereby reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. In the same week, Indonesia’s Sinar Mas Agro Resources and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) signed a deal worth $5.5bn to clear 1 million hectares of virgin rainforest for bio-fuel projects. This is not the first project of its kind and most likely will not be the last to occur in countries where impoverished populations seek greater economic opportunities. Projects like these highlight the darker side to this so-called ‘clean burning’ fuel industry. By attempting to meet poorly thought out targets rather than reduce demand, Europe has created a strong market for fuel that is more destructive and carbon-intensive than fossil fuels.
Europe simply cannot grow bio-fuels to be self-sustainable, and has thereby committed itself to a foreign market. UK road transport alone uses 37.6 million tonnes of petroleum products per year. To grow enough rapeseed to supply this demand would require 25.9 million hectares of cropland; 5 times the UK’s entire cropland! Growing crops in tropical countries is also more profitable because palm oil yields up to four times the amount per acre than rapeseed and labour there is far cheaper. The problem is that this ‘available’ land is virgin rainforest and plantation owners are receiving large grants to destroy them.
Rainforests are major carbon sinks. Turning them into plantations requires deforestation through logging, forest fires and the drying of peat. The vast amount of carbon released into the atmosphere by these activities, counteracts any benefits biodiesel may have as a low-emission fuel. These mono-crops also require large quantities of fertiliser, often made from nitrous oxide (N20) derivatives. N20 remains in the atmosphere for 110-120 years and is 310 times more potent a greenhouse gas than CO2. Furthermore emissions are created during the processing of bio-diesel, before it is shipped halfway around the world and marketed as a ‘green’ fuel.
This intensive agriculture is having major effects on water supplies, soil quality and biodiversity. Orang-utans and Sumatran tigers are among the many species facing extinction. It is also exacerbating social unrest and displacing indigenous communities.
While this irresponsible proliferation of the bio-fuel industry continues, the EU has conveniently avoided any legislation to ban bio-fuels from unsustainable sources. This allows them to have cheaper fuel, out-source its emissions and even claim credit from the Kyoto agreement for meeting its targets.
In global terms, lowering Europe’s emissions at the expense of developing countries is an ultimately pointless pursuit, as the environmental and humanitarian disaster it is causing will affect Europe regardless. Marketing bio-diesel as an environmentally sound fuel is misleading unless strict regulations for sustainability are enforced
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