Transcript E. U. Certification

'Sustainability Standards &
GHG Calculations in the Context of
EU Biofuel Legislation’
- A Maze of Half-Truths -
Deepak Rughani, Biofuelwatch, 4th November 2008
“By driving, you will be saving the
planet. And the more you drive, the
more you prevent catastrophic climate
change.” Biopact ( 29th October 2007,
EU Legislation Timeline - 1
* Biofuel Directive agreed by the EU I 2003:
5.75% indicative biofuel target by 2010 (not
likely to be met)
* Industry-dominated stakeholder forum set
up by the European Commission in 2005 to
put forward proposals for expanding
agrofuels
* 10% biofuel target for transport put forward
by European Commission January 2005
EU Legislation Timeline - 2
+ January 2007: EU Commission publishes
draft new Fuel Quality Directive with a 10%
'greenhouse gas reduction target' for transport
fuel by 2010, with stated aim of increasing
biofuel use
+March 2007: EU Summit agrees to 10%
'renewable road transport fuel' target
provided it is 'produced sustainably' and that
second generation biofuels will be used
Sustainable biofuels? …A PR disaster
Orangutan abuse and extermination
Amazon Deforestation
Tortilla price protests in Mexico
More bad news from climate experts...
“Rapeseed biofuel 'produces more
greenhouse gas than oil or petrol' “,
The Times, 22.9.07
“Biofuel farms make CO2 emissions worse”,
The Guardian, 8.2.08
Peer reviewed studies prove that all
agrofuels worsen climate change.
Growing opposition
'Sustainability standards”
Reassuring the public....
EU Parliamentary Committee agrees a
comprehensive list of 'standards', including:
* no destruction of primary forest and other
wooded land
* no destruction of peatland and other high
carbon stock
* protection of freshwater and soil
* social criteria, including land rights, human
rights, workers rights
* no competition with food production
Whilst not standing in the way of
industry expansion...
Truly meeting the standards would be tough – even
though indirect impacts on communities, food and
environment are ignored. It might even mean
abandoning the target....
The FSC hasn't managed in 15 years to guarantee
that its certificates mean FSC standards have been
met – how can the EU guarantee standards are met
for all biomass by 2010???
BUT there are ways of getting round these
problems...
Mass balance system:
No need to prove where exactly the feedstock comes from
Meta-standards:
Rely on voluntary agreements to rubber-stamp 'sustainable
production' – equal treatment of different standards
Bilateral and multilateral agreements:
The EU could sign an agreement with, say, Brazil, that says all
Brazilian biofuels will be classed as meeting all standards for
up to five years, unless the EU revokes this sooner.
...that's about all the detail EU has
come up with so far!
Roundtables to the rescue
Ilmari Lastikka of Neste Oil in Daily
Express, Sabah: “Having the RSPO
(Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil)
certificate is one way to comply with that
[Renewable Energy Directive]' he told
reporters...By having the RSPO certificate,
palm oil exporters could penetrate into the
European market as the certification confirms
that a company had adhered to sustainable
practices”
How to translate this into greenhouse
gas reductions?
Oil Palm
Corn Ethanol
Sugar Cane
How to calculate greenhouse gas
savings from agrofuels
Step 1:
Ignore all carbon emissions from land-use
change: This is essential, because otherwise,
there will be no ghg savings. Pretend landuse change is dealt with by sustainability
standards, even though those positively
encourage certain land-use changes to
biofuels (eg conversion of set-asides, shown
to result in a 'carbon debt' of 49 years).
Step 2:
Pretend that you have taken account of the evidence on
indirect land-use change emissions – by adding a tiny amount
of 'presumed greenhouse gas emissions' to the greenhouse
gas balance of biofuels – a 'risk adder', but only from 2012
at the earliest. The amount will be decided later by politicians if they were science-based, there would be no ghg savings.
Step 3:
Maximise positive indirect emission savings. Waste-products
from biofuel refining can be fed to cattle. Hence, the more
Biofuels we produce, the less soya we need to grow to feed
our cattle and the less land-use change and agricultural
emissions there will be overall (having regard to steps 1 and 2)
This translates into major ghg savings.
Step 4:
To make make things easier for biofuel producers,
Introduce 'default values' for biofuels – for example,
have one value for all palm oil biodiesel from refineries
with methane capture – no matter where or how the oil
palms were grown.
These four steps will ensure that almost all biofuels
will meet the requirement to reduce emissions by
at least 35 or 45% by 2015 and by at least
50 or 60% by 2020.
To quote the Best Energies website;
“We are well positioned to win the
current land grab in next-generation
fuels”
Hundreds of civil society organisations
condemn targets and greenwash
* Over 200 organisations support call for an
immediate EU agrofuel moratorium
* Call by African civil society groups for a
moratorium, including on EU targets
* 5 year agrofuel moratorium call by Via Campesina
* Large number of declarations, eg from Brazil,
Paraguay, Argetina, Latin American Networks
condemn industrial agrofuels and EU policy
“Humanity must urgently embark on a
massive programme to power
civilisation from wood to stave off
catastrophic climate change, one of
the world's top scientists has told The
Independent on Sunday.” Geoffrey
Lean quoting from James Hansen,