Biofuels could have doubled carbon dioxide emissions according to a new report

17 April 2009

Biofuels could have resulted in carbon dioxide emissions being double the fossil fuels they replace following the implementation of a UK fuel law in 2008, according to a report published by Friends of the Earth.

Estimates show that the biofuels obligation could have caused 1.3 million tonnes of additional harmful emissions and raised concerns for the government’s latest move to increase the amount of biofuel in petrol and diesel from 2.5 to 3.3 per cent.

The study also highlights the issue of deforestation in the production of biofuel, a figure that according to the study has been omitted from government statistics.

Friends of the Earth is therefore calling on the UK government to drop the biofuels obligation until adequate findings reveal it can reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Friends of the Earth’s executive director Andy Atkins said, ‘Until ministers can do their sums properly and prove that growing crops for fuel actually cuts carbon – the government should stop biofuels being added to UK petrol and diesel. Trying to cut emissions by adding biofuels to petrol is like trying to cut down on beer by lacing your pints with vodka. One year on, it’s clear the biofuels obligation is a failure.’

Copyright © 2009 newnet

Tags: biofuel

This story was published on Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 11:00 am and is filed under Europe, biomass/biofuel, companies, policy. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Biofuels could have doubled carbon dioxide emissions according to a new report”

1. David Teal says:

   20 April 2009 at 11:56 am

   Not all biofuels are created equal. One has to be a little dicerning before making blanket assertions. FoE generally do a good job, but a few caveats might have been in order. This link is worth a look too:
   http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog2/2009/03/27/biofuels-digest-special-report-on-indirect-land-use-change-and-biofuels-emissions-first-in-a-series/
2. Sam Morrison says:

   20 April 2009 at 6:00 pm

   Andy Atkins has always hated biofuels. He has never discriminated between feedstocks or processing because he doesnt understand the issue. So when he sees an absurd study like this he does all he can to say “see, it’s proof!” The problem is for every study like this there is one that says the opposite that is just as credible. FoE is ravenous about rainforest and they think using land for fuel on principle is a bad thing because it will threaten rainforest. Time to grow up and recognize that we use our land incredibly inefficiently, we pay farmers not to farm, we pave over the richest farm lands in the world while people in Mali can’t produce cash crops because of our subsidies, and a real demand for food based products would allow us to change a lot of this. These guys are not environmentalists, they’re ideologues. We need real thinkers.

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