Policy recommendations

12-01-2011 Biofuels under attack from MEPs

A decade ago, biofuels were seen as the answer to scarce and polluting fossil fuel sources. The European Union (EU) jumped on board of this idea, aiming at a 10% share of renewable energies in transport fuels by 2020. Biofuels were to provide at least half of the share, and therefore the EU provided subsidises to increase production. However it soon became clear that the benefits of biofuels were smaller than the damage it was causing. In general, biofuels are not sustainable since they do not produce less CO2 than fossil fuels. In November 2010 the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) published a report about this, called Anticipated Indirect Land Use Change Associated with Expanded Use of Biofuels and Bioliquids in the EU An Analysis of the National Renewable Energy Action Plans.

Biofuels can be separated in different generations. The first generation consisted primarily of products that could be used for human consumption. When 830 million people worldwide are undernourished, it is unacceptable to use farmland and crops for anything else, but food production. The EU has committed itself to the Millennium Development Goals, of which number one aims to reduce poverty and hunger worldwide. The incoherence here is obvious. MEPs Giancarlo Scottà (EFD), Rareş-Lucian Niculescu (EPP), and Marina Yannakoudakis (ECR) agree with this and have asked questions to the Commission about the EUs policy towards the first generation of biofuels and the relation with food security. These questions were asked as a reaction to the new report.

The second generation are made out of non-food crops, like waste biomass. MEP Kathleen van Brempt (S&D) raised concerns about the use of wood in creating energy. Wood that could have been re-used is being burned for its energy. According to van Brempt the European policy for sustainable management of materials and the hierarchy of waste (2008/98/EC) coming into conflict with the objective of making increased use of renewable energy sources (2009/28/EC). Wood is therefore not a suitable renewable energy source, especially since trees are vital to reduce CO2 emissions.

Several other MEPs have concerns about the reduction of greenhouse gasses. Chris Davies (ALDE), Søren Bo Søndergaard (GUE/NGL), and Jan Březina (EPP) have asked questions to the Commission about biofuels causing an increase in CO2 emissions. IEEP states in their report that the increase could be as high as 80% to 160% compared to the use of fossil fuels. Reason for these MEPs to point this out to the Commission and ask if the policy is going to be changed. 

Fair Politics agrees that alternative, sustainable energy resources are necessary to replace fossil fuels. However, at the moment the biofuel subsidies are causing more harm in developing countries, because the first generation is threatening food security. Also biofuels are not a tool in the fight against climate change, since they do not decrease CO2. Trees produce oxygen out of CO2, so by cutting wood for its energy, there will be an increase in greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. According to IEEP the use of biofuels will actually increase CO2 emission dramatically. European subsidies for the production and use of biofuels should be terminated immediately. The costs are very high and it is only doing damage to the environment and people living in developing countries.

For raising concerns about biofuels, MEPs Kathleen van Brempt (S&D), Giancarlo Scottà (EFD), Rareş-Lucian Niculescu (EPP), Marina Yannakoudakis (ECR), Chris Davies (ALDE), Søren Bo Søndergaard (GUE/NGL), and Jan Březina (EPP) are being recognised as Fair Politicians. They will each earn one point in our monitoring system.

Click here for the IEEP report.

Parliamentary questions
E-9175/2010
8 November 2010
WRITTEN QUESTION, by Kathleen Van Brempt (S&D)

Subject: Using wood to generate green energy
The European timber industry recently expressed its dismay at the increasing use of wood to generate green electricity and green heat. The consequences of this trend are already clearly visible - a shortage of wood and high market prices. The chief cause can be found in the subsidies developed by the Member States to encourage energy generation using biomass/wood. These subsidies enable electricity and heat producers to pay much more for wood as a fuel than traditional timber-processing firms can afford to pay for it as a renewable raw material. At the same time, national renewable energy action plans make it clear that a very large proportion of that energy should be obtained from biomass. This is one more example, therefore, of two EU policies coming into conflict: the sustainable management of materials and the hierarchy of waste (2008/98/EC), on the one hand, and the objective of making increased use of renewable energy sources (2009/28/EC), on the other. As a result, in many cases material which could be re-used is incinerated to produce green electricity or heat, even though the hierarchy of waste stipulates that the scope for re-use must be explored first.
1. Is the Commission aware of the fact that these two strategies are mutually contradictory?
2. Can the Commission confirm that the hierarchy of waste as laid down in the framework directive on waste (2008/98/EC, Article 4) applies without exception?
3. What recommendations can the Commission make with a view to ensuring that the two strategies referred to above can be implemented fully?
4. Does the Commission agree that European rules are needed which stipulate that support for the generation of green electricity and green heat through the incineration of wood can be provided only in cases where the wood in question is not suitable for use as a raw material? Will the Commission make proposals to that effect?
5. Is the Commission planning to draw up and enforce sustainability criteria for timber products which may be used to produce green energy?
6. Will this problem be dealt with in the forthcoming strategy on the sustainable use of materials?
7. How will the Commission ensure that an undesirable trade does not emerge involving the export of re-useable wood to countries with less stringent waste hierarchies?
8. Is the Commission prepared to draw up minimum energy-yield requirements for power stations which wish to take advantage of support measures for green energy production?

Parliamentary questions
E-9940/2010
26 November 2010
WRITTEN QUESTION, by Giancarlo Scottà (EFD) 

Subject: Biofuel crops
The new market in biofuels is growing steadily: current demand for such fuels is equivalent to 100 million hectares, i.e. 7% of the worlds arable land and land permanently under crops. As the volume of crops intended for the production of biofuels has risen, the amount of land used for the production of food crops has fallen, resulting in an increase in hunger around the world and the expropriation of small farmers.
The expansion of agrifuel crops is having a dangerous impact on food production, which is losing out to the agri-energy sector. The direct competition between agrifuels, which are produced from agricultural and forestry products, and food production is resulting in spiralling prices for cereals such as soya and maize and is having an adverse impact on food security. As a result of this situation, consumers are faced with higher food prices and are being obliged to reduce their consumption.
Although biofuel use is aimed at reducing the emission of pollutants, it should not come at the expense of EU and world food production.
What are the Commissions views on this issue?
How, in its view, can a proper balance be struck between demand for biofuels and demand for food? Does it believe second- and third-generation biofuels derived directly from plant cellulose or the oil-bearing tissue of algae to be a viable alternative to the use of farmland for non-food crops?

Parliamentary questions
P-9920/2010
23 November 2010
WRITTEN QUESTION, by Chris Davies (ALDE) 

Subject: CO2 emissions from biofuels
Does the Commission accept the conclusion of the recent study by the Institute for European Environmental Policy that the use of biofuels to provide the 10 % of transport fuel to be secured from renewable sources will lead to a net increase of 56 million tonnes of CO2 per annum, and, far from reducing overall emissions, will result in a very significant increase in them? How does it intend to respond?

Parliamentary questions
E-9910/2010
26 November 2010
WRITTEN QUESTION, by Rareş-Lucian Niculescu (EPP) 

Subject: Consequences of measures to promote biofuel feedstock crop production
According to a recent report by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), EU plans to increase the percentage of fuel from renewable sources could result in between 4.1 and 6.9 million hectares of land being converted from food production and cause carbon dioxide emissions of between 27 and 56 million tonnes.
1. Is the Commission aware of this report?
2. Has it carried out a similar report on its own account?
3. Does it consider the IEEP estimates to be realistic?
4. Does it intend to verify its findings by means of an independent study?
5. If the findings of the report are realistic and accurate, what measures does it envisage to prevent such a situation from occurring?
Can the Commission comment on a statement by an official recently quoted by the media to the effect that biofuel feedstock crop subsidies could be trimmed from EUR 45 to EUR 30 per hectare.

Parliamentary questions
E-9616/2010
23 November 2010
WRITTEN QUESTION, by Søren Bo Søndergaard (GUE/NGL) 

Subject: EU decision to increase the use of biofuels
A new report by, inter alia, Greenpeace, NOAH (Friends of the Earth Denmark) and Danish ActionAid states that the EU's decision to increase the use of biofuels over the next 10 years will damage the climate 2.5 times as much as using traditional fossil fuels, such as petrol and diesel. The report, entitled Anticipated Indirect Land Use Change Associated with Expanded Use of Biofuels in the EU states that, when indirect land use change is taken into account, e.g. through conversion of forest to fields for biofuel crops, by 2020 biofuels will have increased greenhouse gas emissions by 27 to 56 million tonnes per year the equivalent to the emissions from 12 to 26 million cars (see: http://www.ms.dk/graphics/Ms.dk/Dokumenter/ILUC_report_November2010.pdf). Does this report give the Commission cause to review the target of 9.5 % of fuel consumption to be made up of biofuels in 10 years' time?

Parliamentary questions
E-9745/2010
26 November 2010
WRITTEN QUESTION, by Jan Březina (EPP) 

Subject: Impacts of biofuels on the environment
On 8 November 2010 the long-awaited report on the impact of the production of biofuels on the environment was published. This report, by the Institute for European Environmental Policy, concludes that the indirect impact of EU biofuel policy will create major environmental pressure and questions the assumption that the support of biofuels will contribute to a decrease in CO2 emissions.
Will the Commission, in reaction to the above report, reassess its existing policy of support for biofuels in the EU, particularly the target of reaching at least a 10% share of biofuels in transport by 2020?
Will the Commission be undertaking any other research or studies to obtain a deeper insight into the impact of biofuels on the environment?

Parliamentary Questions
E-010824/2010
9 December 2010
WRITTEN QUESTION, by Marina Yannakoudakis (ECR)

Subject: Biofuels industry in the EU
To what extent does the Commission support the development of a strong and sustainable biofuels industry in the EU? To what extent does the Commission accept that the lack of a clear policy at EU level for the development of the biofuels industry is causing uncertainty and preventing investment in the sector? What evidence does the Commission have to show that biofuels could in fact contribute to climate change and undermine food security? What studies is the Commission supporting with a view to establishing a more rigorous scientific approach to the issue of the environmental effects of biofuels?
 

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Documents

OECD/FAO Agricultural Outlook 2007-2016

UN Energy framework for decisionmakers

EU Strategy for biofuels 2006

EU strategy for biofuels impact assesment

Biomass actionplan COM 2005

EU Directive 2003/96 Energy Taxation

EU Council Presidency Conclusions