Biofuels and Climate Change: Urgent Action Needed to Avoid Catastropic Climate Change

1. Biofuels and Climate Change Biofuelwatchwww.biofuelwatch.org.ukintroduced by Dr Andrew Boswell, biofuelwatch and UK Green Party councillor on Norfolk County Council Biofuels and Climate Change

2. Summary • Climate Change background - urgency to avoid catastropic climate change • Public policy debate has been sidelined • Certification = no viable answer • Agrofuels / biofuels are accelerating climate change • Descending the transport emissions curve - Demand reduction is key Biofuels and Climate Change

3. Emission sources • Deforestation, agriculture and peat • Anthropogenic energy From Stern Report Biofuels and Climate Change

4. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) Arctic 2007 Summer Ice Melt Non-linear effect? Biofuels and Climate Change

5. Descending the fossil emissions curve - Demand reduction is key 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 Biofuels being sold at this level – BUT IS THE OPPOSITE TRUE? Current EU energy policy 90% carbon emission reduction needed URGENTLY! Energy efficiency and energy reduction Carbon management – use less carbon Decarbonise – switch from carbon completely 1990 2000 2010 2020 Biofuels and Climate Change

6. US / EU Biofuel Policy – going off the graph EU – 10% by 2020 (1% now) US – 20% by 2020 (4% now) 2020 2010 Biofuels and Climate Change

7. Agrofuels – no public policy debate • Even current 1% EU penetration has taken us into ‘downstream’ phase of implementation • Yet, there has been no consistent or complete scientific and policy scrutiny • Bypassed by Governments and industry • Public policy debate is urgently needed – moratorium is needed to facilitate this Biofuels and Climate Change

8. Certification context • Governments’ response to no public policy debate is to develop ‘certification schemes’ or ‘sustainability criteria’ • Calls for international scheme (UK Govt., Ford etc) Biofuels and Climate Change

9. Certification schemes • Greenhouse gas (GHG) balances • URGENT need for full lifecycle, whole system (macro) carbon balance studies • Direct and indirect environmental impacts: Deforestation, loss of habitats / biodiversity, water depletion, soil erosion, chemicals • Direct and indirect social impacts: Poverty, land conflicts, human rights, labour, food security and sovereignty Biofuels and Climate Change

10. Sustainability criteria • Driven by interests of industry and government • Displacement / leakage not handled • Existing agriculture displaced by agrofuels moves into new areas • Macro impacts through commodity price shifts not handled • Amazon deforestation ←→ soy price • US Corn for ethanol displaces US soy => soy price • EU oilseed rape use causes palm oil prices causes palm oil expansion Biofuels and Climate Change

11. Do Agrofuels save emissions? • Agrofuel infrastructure is built on Fossil Fuel infrastructure • Intensive agriculture – fossil fuel based – fertilisers, farm equipment, Nitrous oxide emissions (300* CO2), soil carbon emissions • Feedstock transport, shipping, ports • Refining (coal, gas fired plants!) ; process chemicals Biofuels and Climate Change

12. N20 needs further study • microbes convert N fertiliser to N2O • NEW STUDY by Nobel prizewinner Paul Crutzen, August 2007 : 3 to 5 per cent = twice the widely accepted figure of 2 per cent used by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). • oilseed rape biodiesel, for example, is up to 70% worse for the climate than fossil fuel diesel (also corn ethanol) • UK and EU Biofuels policy and certification schemes in scientific doubt • N2O emissions – chemical fertilizer impact greater in tropics • Both EU home grown biofuels and tropical imports Biofuels and Climate Change

13. Massive destruction beyond N2O - Agrofuels are accelerating climate change Fires to clear land for palm oil, KalimantanPhoto by Nordin, Save our Borneo Deforestationfor oil palms, Colombia

14. Peat drainage and destruction Drainage • Dry peat - oxidises and, over time, emits all its carbon as CO2. 42-50 billion tonnes of carbon stored in those SE Asian peatlands. Fires • Many set by plantation companies, greatly accelerate the loss of carbon. • Of the 27.1 million hectares of peatland in South-east Asia, 12 million hectares are deforested and mostly drained. Biofuels and Climate Change

15. Agrofuels as a new driver of peatland destruction Indonesia plans 20 million hectares new oil palm plantations to meet biodiesel demand. $17.4 billion investment deals in Indonesian palm oil agreed this year. According to 2006 FAO report, growth in European rapeseed oil biodiesel has significantly pushed up global palm oil prices. Biofuels and Climate Change

16. Deforestation • “with partial deforestation the entire landscape could become drier and a domino effect could occur producing a ‘tipping point’ affecting the whole forest”. Conclusion of recent scientific conference • Amazon drying out – die-back threat increasing - 120 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide Biofuels and Climate Change

17. Amazon Deforestation and Drought Deforestation in Novo Progreso, Brazil ; Alberto Cesar/Greenpeace/AP Amazon drought 2005, Lake Rei Biofuels and Climate Change

18. Massive emission exports from industralised nations to global South Massive land-use change in global South, and crop commodity traffic Biofuels and Climate Change

19. Emission trickery Exporting emissions from Northern transport to Southern agriculture and landuse NB: Soil + Peat not included Biofuels and Climate Change

20. Descending the transport emissions curve - Demand reduction is key 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 Current EU energy policy Reduce vehicle emissions by 50% - smaller, more efficient vehicles 90% carbon emission reduction needed URGENTLY! Reduce journeys – planning, modal shift, decouple transport from economy Reduce liquid fuel – plug-in hybrids Change Supply - Concentrating Solar Power ? 1990 2000 2010 2020 Biofuels and Climate Change

21. The Climate Context • 1st generation biofuels • Scientific doubt on N20 for all fuel supply chains including EU oilseed rape • Already a climate disaster • Eg Indonesian peat lands • Deforestation tropics • Yet mass-scale infrastructure and investment ready for • 2nd generation biofuels • 15-20 years to develop • BUT emissions must be cut now • Biohazards (even now in R&D) • Deforestation boreal and temporate •   Transport sector DEMAND REDUCTION We are currently in ‘first generation’ world – there is a gap to any viable second generation – ‘first generation’ problems must be addressed Biofuels and Climate Change

22. Networking • What factsheets, lobbying support would be useful for your organisation? • immediate moratorium call on EU incentives for agrofuels, EU imports of agrofuels and EU agroenergy monocultures. http://www.econexus.info/biofuels.html • Sign up to the biofuelwatch yahoo group - send a blank email to biofuelwatch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com • www.biofuelwatch.org.uk • Email us at info@biofuelwatch.org.uk if you would like to get more involved in the campaign. Biofuels and Climate Change

23. Biofuels and Climate Change

24. Mega-scale Agrofuel drivers • Government and corporate subsidy and promotion • Fits “Business as usual” policies and paradigms • Year-on-year economic growth • Avoid unpopular “demand reduction” politics • Short term “energy security” fix • Less pressure on Oil hotspots – Mid-East/Iraq • Stabilising Oil price? • EU / US “Oil independence” • New global mega-industry and infrastructure • agribusiness, biotech, and chemical sectors • refining, tankage and shipping sectors • commodity markets (eg Palm Oil, sugar, corn) Biofuels and Climate Change