Greens call for immediate suspension of 'false solution' biofuel target ahead of RTFO launch on 15 April
13 April 2008
The Government's Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) should be scrapped immediately in the face of overwhelming evidence that mass-scale biofuels are seriously hampering efforts to reduce climate change, protect local eco-systems and improve food security, said the Green Party's Principal Speaker today.
Dr Caroline Lucas MEP criticised the Department for Transport's support for the controversial policy the day before it introduces a mandatory target to ensure that 2.5% of fuel used in transport derives from agrofuels.
Dr Lucas said: "The social and environmental impacts of mass agrofuels have simply not been taken into account, as industrialised nations push this dangerous energy policy against a background of a hollow public policy debate.
"There is a new political awareness that agrofuels are exacerbating the very problems they sought to solve, yet only the Greens are demanding the Government's RTFO targets are scrapped, and we call on the EU to suspend its agrofuel expansion, targets and imports until the full consequences of this new breed of fuel are understood.
"It almost beggars belief that, in considering how to reduce transport emissions, the government is ignoring the need to increase vehicle efficiency, or to promote a modal shift from private to public transport, preferring instead to put all its faith in mass agrofuels, which have been found to exacerbate poverty through land grabbing, land conflicts, and food insecurity.
"According to Secretary of State for Transport Ruth Kelly, biofuels are "one of the few existing feasible ways of slowing the growth of carbon emissions from transport." If she can't see that a far more effective and efficient way would be to reduce demand, improve efficiency and develop sustainable transport and energy systems, then she should be replaced by someone who does.
Dr Lucas continued: "The UK opposition parties have proven equally inept at reducing emissions from transport. It was left to the Greens in the European Parliament to vote consistently for stricter EU legislation on limiting vehicle emissions, and at our autumn conference last year, we became the first political party to call for a moratorium on agrofuels within the EU.
"MEPs from the Conservative Party - in combination with the UK Liberals - voted last year to significantly weaken proposed EU legislation to reduce CO2 from vehicles. Their amendments to proposed legislation scuppered EU efforts to combat climate change, allowing carmakers to produce dirtier cars and delaying the introduction of urgently needed emissions limits."
