Biofuel obligations placed on fuel suppliers
Tuesday, 15 Apr 2008 09:30
Biofuels are made from from biological material such as crops
Science In Focus
Click here to see how British small businesses are creating innovative, low carbon business ideas, on inthenews.co.uk. Full Story
Fuel suppliers must ensure that part of their sales is made up of biofuels from today under the renewable transport fuel obligation (RTFO) programme.
By law 2.5 per cent must now be biofuels, which will rise to five per cent of all UK fuel sold on forecourts by 2010.
Biofuels come from biological material such as plants and the government believes they can help the UK meet its climate change objectives and secure the future of its energy supply.
The transport sector is responsible for a quarter of emissions and the RTFO is predicted to reduce carbon emissions from road transport in 2010 by about 0.7 to 0.8 million tonnes.
Despite government hopes, campaigners have raised concerns with the impact the RTFO could have on the environment.
The RSPB, Greenpeace, Oxfam and other groups have warned that reports required by the RTFO are too weak to prove that biofuels supplied to customers have cut greenhouse gas emissions.
They add that they will not document wider impacts on the environment and food production.
The RSPB is concerned that an "over hasty" push for biofuels will accelerate climate change and habitat loss worldwide and cause severe damage to soil and water.
"Those promoting biofuels claim they will use existing farmland or land of poor quality, without damaging wildlife or the climate. But the impacts of biofuel production on forests and wetlands are already being seen worldwide," said RSPB chief executive Graham Wynne.
"One species is already extinct because of biofuel production and could be the first of many. It is a tragedy that customers' money is going to be spent on driving this destruction."
Shadow environment secretary Peter Ainsworth said: "The government's policy on biofuels is in total disarray.
"It is far too late to be ordering reviews, we have known about the pitfalls of unsustainable biofuels for a long time."
But transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick said biofuels are an "important step towards reducing carbon emissions from transport".
"We must do all we can to ensure biofuels are produced sustainably. We know people are concerned about the environmental risks associated with expanding biofuel production and we take those concerns very seriously," he explained.
"That is why we want to introduce mandatory standards as soon as possible to guarantee that biofuels don't cause deforestation or food shortages and we are leading international work to do this.
"In the meantime, we require suppliers to produce sustainability reports, providing an immediate incentive for them to source biofuels responsibly."