Impacts of Biofuels on Climate, People, and Forests

1. Biofuels and their impacts on Global Climate, People and ForestsBiofuelwatchwww.biofuelwatch.org.ukintroduced by Dr Andrew Boswell, biofuelwatch and UK Green Party councillor on Norfolk County Council Biofuels and their impacts

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

3. UNDP Report – pre-Bali Biofuels and their impacts

4. 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 their impacts

5. Emission sources • Deforestation, agriculture and peat • Anthropogenic energy From Stern Report Biofuels and their impacts

6. Positive feedbacks – not on political radar • IPCC Assessment Reports are scientifically conservative. • Are constrained by what is politically and economically acceptable. • Are also some two years out of date when published. • Dynamic positive feedbacks – emerging science during last 2 years • All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group (APPCCG) trying to highlight Biofuels and their impacts

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

8. 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 • car manufacturers avoid more efficient vehicles • refining, tankage and shipping sectors • commodity markets (eg Palm Oil, sugar, corn) Biofuels and their impacts

9. 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 their impacts

10. Agrofuel issues • Greenhouse gas (GHG) balances • Environmental impacts: Deforestation, loss of habitats / biodiversity, water depletion, soil erosion, chemicals • Social impacts: Poverty, land grabbing, land conflicts, human rights, labour, food security and sovereignty Biofuels and their impacts

11. Food vs Fuel FAO Agricultural Outlook, July 2007 • “increased demand for biofuels is causing fundamental changes to agricultural markets that could drive up world prices for many farm products” FAO, September 2007 • “Developing countries face serious social unrest as they struggle to cope with soaring food prices” Biofuels and their impacts

12. Food vs Fuel • Low-Income Food-Deficit countries (LIFDCs) ::Social unrest / food riots • Feed prices  • Huge industry denial • Food sovereignty • Best land taken for agrofuels • Even import poor quality food • 16 million starve per 1% commodity price rise Biofuels and their impacts

13. Jean Ziegler • UN Special Rapporteur on the “Right to Food” • Grave concern over impact of biofuels on food security and starvation • October 25th 2007 – called for a 5 year moratorium on biofuels at UN General Assembly • Backed by Secretary General Biofuels and their impacts

14. Bioenergy in Development • Small scale production in community FOR COMMUNITY beneficial • especially women’s health • Low power electricity generation • BUT governments looking to big export markets – driven by EU (and US) targets • Local markets governed by global market • No place for small farmers • African case – lack of clarity of policy • Highlighted in African Biodiversity Network report Biofuels and their impacts

15. Impacts on People • Use of bioenergy in rural economies • Could help – especially women BUT • Large scale monocultures (eg 11,200 people to be evicted by Sun Biofuels Jatropha plantation in Tanzania) • Governments welcome in large companies to boost export market • Land grabbing • Governments allow companies to get around land laws • Some 2 billion hectares of Southern land up for recolonisation Biofuels and their impacts

16. Impacts on People • Human rights • Pesticide use (especially with GM varieties etc) • Deforestation causing health problems • Land conflicts – paramilitaries in Indonesia and Colombia • Violent evictions and murders • Displaced peoples • UN warns up 60 million biofuel refugees • Displaced to less than subsistence rural existence, or to the urban poor in mega cities Biofuels and their impacts

17. Jatropha 1 • Huge land rights issues in countries like India (Guardian, 25/10/07) • Contracts biaised to companies not small farmers • Fertiliser and irrigation needed for first 3 years • Oxfam warn that better yields will come from food land • Even though Jatropha can grown on marginal land it will compete with food land Biofuels and their impacts

18. Jatropha 2 • Use of ‘waste’ land by pastoralists etc not accounted for • Head of World Institute of Sustainable Energy in Pune, G.M. Pillai, warns that promotion of jatropha for biodiesel is likely to lead to the destruction of primary and secondary forests in India, with serious consequences for biodiversity. • Invasive plant drives biodiversity loss • Poisonous to animals etc Biofuels and their impacts

19. Hundreds of NGOs in Latin America, Asia and Africa have spoken out against large-scale biofuel monocultures. Biofuels and their impacts

20. Moratorium calls • Monbiot, April 2007, Guardian • Southern and Northern NGOs (over 150), July 2007 • Imports into EU • Large scale mono cultures • Jean Ziegler, UN, October 2007 • ‘crime against humanity’ • African NGOs (30) • November 2007, pre-Bali • No global targets, no more African dev. Biofuels and their impacts

21. From African BN document • “In Uganda, there is an apparent failure to recognise that by encouraging a favourable climate for agrofuels, foreign companies focussed on export are likely to take over the direction of biofuel production” Timothy Byakola, Uganda • “The most fertile lands, with best access to water are being targeted, even though these lands are already being used for food production by small-scale farmers” Abdallah Mkindee, Tanzania Biofuels and their impacts

22. From African BN document • “There seems to be a lack of clarity over whether investment and targets are aimed at production of biofuels for the Zambian market or for export. It seems that companies such as D1 Oils may be promoting biofuels as a domestic energy strategy, in order to open the door to amenable legislation, while really intending to focus biofuel production on the export market”. Matonga Mundia, Zambia Biofuels and their impacts

23. Sawit Watch, Indonesian NGO • “Palm oil for biofuels increases social conflicts and undermines land reform in Indonesia…It is unavoidable that, as a consequence of Europe's biofuels policy, the land rights of indigenous peoples and local communities will be relinquished further, and that food security will be undermined and lands for agricultural purposes and subsistence livelihoods will diminish.” Biofuels and their impacts

24. Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria • “It is a push by industry to make another scramble for Africa, grab the land and continue with business as usual. The industrial bio-energy push to do increased bio-energy demand will be nothing other than an effort at extending the frontiers of neo-colonialism in its continued march on the back of the fabled market forces” Biofuels and their impacts

25. Landless Movement of Brazil (MST) • “We can't call this a ‘bio-fuels program’. We certainly can't call it a ‘bio-diesel program’. Such phrases use the prefix ‘bio-‘ to subtly imply that the energy in question comes from ‘life’ in general. This is illegitimate and manipulative. We need to find a term in every language that describes the situation more accurately, a term like agro-fuel. This term refers specifically to energy created from plant products grown through agriculture.” Biofuels and their impacts

26. from a declaration by Latin American NGOs • “We want food sovereignty, not biofuels…While Europeans maintain their lifestyle based on automobile culture, the population of Southern countries will have less and less land for food crops and will loose its food sovereignty…We are therefore appealing to the governments and people of the European Union countries to seek solutions that do not worsen the already dramatic social and environmental situation of the peoples of Latin America, Asia and Africa.  “ Biofuels and their impacts

27. 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 their impacts

28. 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 their impacts

29. UK Government figures NOW in complete scientific doubt • From LowCVP presentation to UK Bioenergy conference Sept 2007 Corn Ethanol -50% Oil Seed rape biodiesel -70% Biofuels and their impacts

30. 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

31. New Scientist 1/12/07 • including the one-off releases from deforestation, each hectare of peatland drained for palm oil will emit between 3750 and 5400 tonnes over the next 25 years, according to Jack Rieley, a tropical peatlands specialist at the University of Nottingham, UK. Even if the palm oil is used as biofuel, a hectare's output will save only 150 tonnes in vehicle emissions over the period, meaning 25 to 36 times as much carbon will be emitted as is saved. Biofuels and their impacts

32. 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 their impacts

33. 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 their impacts

34. Ecological Impacts • Massive land use change • Renton Righelato and Dominick V. Spracklen, Science, August 2007 • Ecological restoration and forestation would sequester 2-9 more carbon than biofuels Biofuels and their impacts

35. Greenpeace report • Where can big emissions be cut quickly and cost effectively? • CUT deforestation – 2Gt CO2 / yr • STOP SE ASIA Peat fires – 1.3Gt • Regenerate peat lands – 0.5Gt • 8% of current GHGs Biofuels and their impacts

36. Massive emission exports from industralised nations to global South Massive land-use change in global South, and crop commodity traffic Biofuels and their impacts

37. Emission trickery Exporting emissions from Northern transport to Southern agriculture and landuse NB: Soil + Peat not included Biofuels and their impacts

38. 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 their impacts

39. 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 their impacts

40. 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 their impacts

41. UK RTFO and UK Policy • No sustainability criteria until 2011 • Holes in methodology • Only partial reporting- 50% in 2007/2008 • Peat land before 2005 ‘written off’ – yet 0.5Gt CO2 could be saved by reflooding • The Palm oil from such land will be sold as ‘good’ biofuel under current UK regulation • April 15th 2008 – April Biofools Day Biofuels and their impacts

42. 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 their impacts

43. 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 NOW Biofuels and their impacts

44. Recent Publications http://www.grain.org/seedling_files/seed-07-07-en.pdf http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/docs/ABN_Agro.pdf http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/docs/agrofuels_reality_check.pdf Biofuels and their impacts

45. Recent Publications 2 http://www.oxfam.org/en/files/bn_biofuelling_poverty_0711.pdf http://tinyurl.com/3c7esp (Greenpeace) http://tinyurl.com/3archk (FoEE) Biofuels and their impacts

46. JOIN THE BLESSED UNREST Biofuels and their impacts

47. Social : Environmental : Indigenous The only way we are going to put out the environmental fire is to get on the social justice bus and heal our wounds, because in the end, there is only one bus. Biofuels and their impacts

48. BLESSED UNREST • Sign up to the biofuelwatch yahoo group - send a blank email to biofuelwatch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com • www.biofuelwatch.org.uk • info@biofuelwatch.org.uk • National Week of Local Action on Agrofuels from Saturday, 26th January 2008 Biofuels and their impacts

49. Biofuels and their impacts

50. Biofuels and their impacts