Paving the way for agrofuels - EU policy, sustainability criteria and climate calculations

Sep 2007

Agrofuels and other types and uses of bio-energy need strong public support (including targets, subsidies and tax breaks) in order to gain market share. These incentives are being justified on the grounds that agrofuels bring climate benefits, yet far reaching social and environmental problems are already foreseen as a consequence of their increased production: deforestation and the destruction of various other ecosystems, water scarcity, land conflicts, rural impoverishment and depopulation, human rights violations, food insecurity and the further compromising of food sovereignty. Moreover, the real climate benefits of these crops are increasingly in doubt, especially when land use change and displacement are taken into account.
This paradoxical situation has led to a strong perceived need for ‘sustainability’ safeguards on agrofuels. The debate on the question whether, or under what conditions, any certification system can guarantee sustainable agrofuels, and can therefore legitimise EU agrofuel support, is a very important one. It urgently needs the engagement of a wide variety of civil society organisations, as the implications of its outcomes will be far reaching.
Some key questions include: How can a strongly increased EU demand for agrofuels be sourced ‘sustainably’, if the EU is already an importer of large amounts of unsustainable commodity products for other uses? Will macro-impacts such as displacement be dealt with by sustainability criteria and greenhouse gas (GHG) calculations? What other hurdles need to be overcome for sustainability certification systems to be effective? Who actually decides what is sustainable, and how are conflicts of interest between social groups in producer countries dealt with? Is it a good idea to use a ‘meta-standard’ approach, relying on currently existing certification processes? Do the actual EU proposals for sustainability criteria adequately address both the direct and indirect impacts? How would such sustainability scheme relate to Clean Development Mechanism funding for agrofuel projects?
Chapter 1 of this report gives an outline of the current push for agrofuels in transport through EU policy making. Chapter 2 discusses the various initiatives that have been set up to create sustainability certification systems for agrofuels (sometimes including all bio-energy). Chapter 3 describes some of the highly problematic aspects of studies on the GHG balance of agrofuels. Chapter 4 looks at the possibility that agrofuel expansion could in future be funded through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol.

By: T. Gilbertson, N. Holland, S. Semino, K. Smith

 
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