EU plans to increase the use of biofuels will require the conversion of an area over twice the size of Belgium to produce feedstock, driving up carbon emissions, according to a new report.
The report, Anticipated Indirect Land Use Change Associated with Expanded Use of Biofuels in the EU, has been put together by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) at the behest of environmental groups including Friends of the Earth Europe, Greenpeace and Transport & Environment.
Europe is set to increase its biofuels use to 9.5% of transport fuel by 2020, over 90% of which will come from food crops, according to the report.
According the report’s analysis, which looked at the renewable energy plans for member states, this increase in biofuel production will lead to emissions of an extra 27 to 56 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year if indirect land use change (ILUC) is taken into account.
Instead of making biofuels 35-50% less polluting than fossil fuels as required by the Renewable Energy Directive, the report claims that biofuels will be 81-167% worse than fossil fuels.
Five countries, the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy and France, are predicted to be responsible for over two-thirds of the increase in emissions.
“The scale of the damage that European countries will cause with their biofuels plans is now clear,” says Adrian Bebb from Friends of the Earth Europe. “Forests and nature will be destroyed on a shocking scale to fuel our cars [and] the resulting release of climate-damaging greenhouse gases will make biofuels a worse polluter than fossil fuels.”
Environmental groups and charities are calling on the EU to review its biofuels policy to take into account ILUC, ensure emissions and the impact on food crops in the developing world are minimised.
“Until indirect land use change is fully taken into account, Europe will continue to subsidise an alternative energy that is no better than the fossil fuels it is designed to replace,” says Nusa Urbancic of Transport & Environment.