Rainforest Alliance position on biofuels

Oct 2009

Biofuels are fuels produced from biomass — renewable plant sources, including crops such as oil palm, soybean, sugar cane, and corn as well as wood, grass, woody plants and other grains or nuts. Whether in liquid, gas or solid forms, biofuels are not new.People have burned biomass for energy since we first learned to harness fire. Even now, billions of people burn wood or dung as their primary source of energy, as two billion people do not have access to electricity. Ethanol made from sugar, corn or other crops has long been used as an alternative fuel. Biodiesel made from vegetable oil has grown from an oddity to a significant fuel option. Concerns about global climate change, rising energy costs and dwindling petroleum supplies have motivated governments,
energy companies, NGOs and others to promote biofuels as an alternative energy source to fossil fuels. For example, in December 2008, the European Union (EU) set a target of 20 percent of renewable energy sources and 10 percent renewable transportation fuels (i.e. biofuels) by 2020.
The case for the increased use of biofuels is compelling. And the alternative — continued dependency on fossil fuels — presents many increasingly visible environmental, security, health and safety threats around the world — evidence of which Rainforest Alliance field staff see every day. Our current dependence on fossil fuels — whether from the oil fields of the Middle East, the forests of the Amazon or the Congo Basin, the tar sands of Canada or offshore
drilling sites — has negative global and local impacts that are impossible to ignore. For these and other reasons, the Rainforest Alliance believes that a global movement toward renewable, more sustainable energy supplies is not an option — it is a must. Biofuels can be a viable part of a more sustainable human society, but only if done right and if matched with a continuous drive toward greater efficiency and energy conservation.

By: Rainforest Alliance

 
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