United Kingdom continues biofuels discussion
March 10, 2008
BY Brian Warshaw in Fontaines, Burgundy, France
Web exclusive posted March 28, 2008 at 4:16 p.m. CST
The United Kingdom government's chief environmental adviser worried biofuels backers by urging an April deadline for service stations to provide diesel and gasoline that is at least 2.5 percent biofuel be postponed.
At the same time, a coalition including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam and other groups, also asked the U.K.'s Department for Transport to delay implementation of the blend requirement.
Paul Thompson, policy analyst at the U.K.'s Renewable Energy Association, called the development "bad news for the industry." He added, "the government is undermining its own policy – and all the years of hard work developing a sustainable biofuels industry."
U.K. government science adviser Robert Watson made the remarks in a March 24 British Broadcasting Corp. broadcast, voicing concern that England's Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO) might exacerbate climate change.
The U.K.'s target of 5 percent biofuels by 2010 "is not seriously in doubt," said Thompson, "but the question is where do we go from there and who will pick up the slack if transport doesn't have to make its fair share of greenhouse-gas savings."
Thompson thinks the U.K. government "is clearly having doubts about the 10 percent target by 2020 it signed up to only a year ago. Any target must be binding–that is absolutely essential for industry and investors."
Under the RTFO, beginning in April fuel distributors must add a minimum 2.5 percent of biodiesel or ethanol to all diesel and gasoline fuels, respectively.
Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee called for a moratorium on biofuels in its January report, titled Are biofuels sustainable?, The report concluded that a large biofuels industry based on current technology is likely to increase food prices and may impair food security in developing countries.
Based on the report, the Environmental Audit Committee recommended that the government concentrate on the use of sustainable biofuels, such as waste vegetable oil, and the development of more efficient biofuel technologies that could play a role if they prove to be sustainable.
In response to the concerns, the U.K.'s Renewable Fuels Agency will review sustainability of various biofuel technologies and report to government ministers by June 27.
The United Kingdom government's chief environmental adviser worried biofuels backers by urging an April deadline for service stations to provide diesel and gasoline that is at least 2.5 percent biofuel be postponed.
At the same time, a coalition including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam and other groups, also asked the U.K.'s Department for Transport to delay implementation of the blend requirement.
Paul Thompson, policy analyst at the U.K.'s Renewable Energy Association, called the development "bad news for the industry." He added, "the government is undermining its own policy – and all the years of hard work developing a sustainable biofuels industry."
U.K. government science adviser Robert Watson made the remarks in a March 24 British Broadcasting Corp. broadcast, voicing concern that England's Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO) might exacerbate climate change.
The U.K.'s target of 5 percent biofuels by 2010 "is not seriously in doubt," said Thompson, "but the question is where do we go from there and who will pick up the slack if transport doesn't have to make its fair share of greenhouse-gas savings."
Thompson thinks the U.K. government "is clearly having doubts about the 10 percent target by 2020 it signed up to only a year ago. Any target must be binding–that is absolutely essential for industry and investors."
Under the RTFO, beginning in April fuel distributors must add a minimum 2.5 percent of biodiesel or ethanol to all diesel and gasoline fuels, respectively.
Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee called for a moratorium on biofuels in its January report, titled Are biofuels sustainable?, The report concluded that a large biofuels industry based on current technology is likely to increase food prices and may impair food security in developing countries.
Based on the report, the Environmental Audit Committee recommended that the government concentrate on the use of sustainable biofuels, such as waste vegetable oil, and the development of more efficient biofuel technologies that could play a role if they prove to be sustainable.
In response to the concerns, the U.K.'s Renewable Fuels Agency will review sustainability of various biofuel technologies and report to government ministers by June 27.
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