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BIOFUELS, BIODIVERSITY AND ENERGY SECURITY: What are the environmental and social impacts?

BIOFUELS, BIODIVERSITY AND ENERGY SECURITY: What are the environmental and social impacts? Jeffrey A. McNeely Chief Scientist IUCN-The International for Conservation of Nature Presented to SCOPE Conference on Biofuels Gummersbach, Germany 22 September 2008.

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BIOFUELS, BIODIVERSITY AND ENERGY SECURITY: What are the environmental and social impacts?

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  1. BIOFUELS, BIODIVERSITY AND ENERGY SECURITY: What are the environmental and social impacts? Jeffrey A. McNeely Chief Scientist IUCN-The International for Conservation of Nature Presented to SCOPE Conference on Biofuels Gummersbach, Germany 22 September 2008

  2. Converting food crops into biofuel “is a crime against humanity.” Jean Zeigler, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, October 2007

  3. 2007: Problems with oil supply became dramatic Energy security

  4. “Let’s face it. It’s all about olive oil.”

  5. Energy prices

  6. And of course the threat of climate change

  7. This Ferrari F430 runs on biofuel

  8. A post-petroleum future?

  9. How will the poor adapt to more expensive oil?

  10. An iPodstill needsenergy

  11. But another concern is rural livelihoods. What does bioenergy mean for farmers?

  12. Nepal: 90% of energy comes from fuelwood • Domestic use of roundwood • for fuel: • 98% in Lebanon • 66% in Jordan • 44% in Turkey Globally, 2 billion people rely on traditional biomass fuels.

  13. Our modern societies are dependent on high energy use

  14. “Can you believe it? Since we installed our wood-burning stove we’ve spent next to nothing on heating oil.”

  15. What about alternative sources of oil?

  16. Alberta’s tar sands contain billions of barrels of oil, but current yield is only 1 million barrels per day and requires 3-10 barrels of water for each barrel of oil. Maximum possible production: 3 million barrels per day

  17. Coal remains a major source of energy

  18. We need to look at all the options Source: International Energy Agency

  19. Alternatives to oil: Human power

  20. Bicycles played a critical role in the Viet Nam war

  21. Alternatives to Oil: Biomass

  22. Biofuel yields of selected first generation ethanol and biodiesel feedstock (l not c)

  23. Some market information… • Biofuel market development during the last 5 years: now ~3% global gasoline consumption • Biofuels may share ~10% of world fuel use for transport by 2025 • Less than 10% of global biofuels production is internationally traded • But important expansion in global trade: key consumers (EU, US, and Japan) will not have the domestic capacity to meet internal demand

  24. Biodiesel Produced from seeds such as palm, jatropha, canola, sunflower and soy

  25. Rail line between Mumbai and Delhi is planted with Jatropha and the trains run on 15-20% biodiesel

  26. Dangers of Jatropha • Highly invasive • Useless for food or fodder • Requires water and fertilizer • Requires processing facilities

  27. 2000-2005, Indonesia planted 1.6 million ha of oil palm, with US$110 million in government subsidies. 9.8 million ha of forest were lost.

  28. Forest growing on peat soils in Indonesia are burned to make way for oil palm plantations Releasing more carbon than will ever be stored by the palms

  29. Some of the diesel fuel from Indonesian oil palm went to feed this truck

  30. World fuel ethanol production

  31. Sugarcane produces the most ethanol per hectare Burning of sugarcane fields before harvesting emits carbon One million jobs, mostly low-paying In Brazil, sugarcane fields lose up to 30 tons of topsoil per ha per year How can smallholders work with large processors?

  32. Using US maize to produce ethanol increased tortilla price in Mexico

  33. The cost of producing Beer in Germany is increasing, as farmers turn from growing barley to growing biofuels

  34. The European Commissioner for Agriculture cancelled subsidies for set-asides in 2008, because of demand for biofuels. The EU has mandated that biofuel must provide 5.6% of transport energy by 2010. Policy may have gotten ahead of science

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