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Berlin 12-14 December 2007
Agrofuels – Opportunity or
Danger?
Session on Civil Society Perspectives
Jutta Kill
FERN Climate Campaign
The campaigning NGO for greater environmental and social justice, with a focus on forests
and forest peoples rights in the policies and practices of the EU
Prerequisits for a meaningful discussion about the
role of bioenergy in a future energy mix
Need to understand that the political interest in agrofuels as well as carbon trading
is part of dealing with
1 – challenges to increasingly unequal resource distribution on a finite planet
2 - our economy’s / society’s addiction to fossil fuels:
False solutions as a way to pretend that the addiction is dealt with when
underneath the surface all energy is directed to maintaining access to the ‘drug’
Most of the arguments politicians proclaim in public as reason for their interest in
agrofuels ring hollow when scrutinized [climate change; security of energy
supply; rural development / revitalisation]
Prerequisits for a meaningful discussion about the
role of bioenergy in a future energy mix - 1
if climate change were a genuine motivation for interest in agrofuel / bio-energy:
prioritise most greenhouse gas efficient use of biomass rather than least efficient [liquid fuel]
high-fossil fuel intensity of current industrial farming model would be acknowledged and
emphasis would be on decarbonising dominant industrial agricultural practise
agrofuels discussion in the North would take place in the context of parallel and visible action
to climate-proof transport policies and priorities:
EU Council: 2020 target of 10% biofuels (by energy content) for transport: 31 MTOE of agrofuels
Why not:
Speed limits, better power-to-weight ratio for new cars & trucks: 11 MTOE;
Fuel efficient tyres: 15 MTOE
Reducing fuel consumption in passenger cars: 20 MTOE.
or EVEN
Reduce the projected growth in the EU transport sector by 30 per cent, in line with EU commitment to
reduce emissions by 30% (20%)?
Annual emissions from EU transport are expected to grow by 77 million tonnes CO2eq between 2005 and 2020
– three times as much as from any other sector of the EU economy.
Prerequisits for a meaningful discussion about the
role of bioenergy in a future energy mix - 2
if security of energy supply were a genuine motivation for interest in agrofuel /
bio-energy:
prioritise reduction of crude oil consumption
Prerequisits for a meanigful discussion about the
role of bioenergy in a future energy mix - 3
if rural development were a genuine motivation for interest in agrofuel / bio-energy:
Priority on locally owned production for local / regional consumption
prioritise cancellation of odious debt and overhaul of global agricultural commodities
trade that force global South into export oriented crop production
prioritise agricultural / farming practise with highest job creation potential and quality
of work rather than agro-industrial farming that makes farm worker either redundant or sick
Prerequisits for a meanigful discussion
about the role of bioenergy in a future CDM - Who loses?
energy mix – 4
• Need to understand the politics of power
The 80 families living in
Sarona, Uttaranchal whose
traditional irrigation system is
being destroyed by the
diversion of the river for the
‘small-scale’ run-of-river hydro
project registered by the CDM
were never consulted by the
Government or by Swasti
Power
“Carbon trading ‘dispossesses ordinary people in the South of their lands and
futures without resulting in appreciable progress toward alternative energy
systems” Larry Lohmann at ‘Carbon Trading’ book launch, November 2006
“There are some rubbish projects out there” Mike Mason on
BBC Radio Five Trading Trees Programme November 2006
www.thecornerhouse.org.uk
www.dhf.uu.se
"The trouble is that there are a lot of people out there making a lot of
money out of carbon trading and who want to perfect the market rather
than press for the changes that are actually needed.“ Oxford University
economics professor Dieter Helm.
Prerequisits to a meanigful discussion about the
role of bioenergy in a future energy mix
Need to find a simple yet reliable way to tell false from genuine solutions:
Will they concentrate or diffuse corporate power?
[or, alternatively: will they strengthen or weaken local ownership over
land use decision making?]
What kind of agricultural reality do current agrofuel policies incentivise?
Coherent with or in contradiction to public proclamations on agrofuels
and climate change, rural development,….
Bioenergy can play a positive role in a future energy mix
• if we understand that current interest in agrofuels is motivated mainly by intention
to slow just transition to post-carbon economies
“Chevron, Weyerhaeuser to Study Biofuels Link-Up”
“DuPont Biofuels Exec Outlines Company’s Growth Plans”
“Syngenta and Diversa Enter New 10-year
Enzyme Partnership for Cellulosic Biofuels”
“Monsanto Chief Executive Announces New Bioenergy Program”
“BP and DuPont to Partner on Next-Generation Biofuels”
“Oil Majors Cultivate an Interest in Biofuel Industry”
Bioenergy can play a positive role in a future energy mix
if we understand that there is no substitute for the densely packed energy that
fossil fuels provide – every year we burn 400 years worth of biomass,
compressed into fossil fuels!
“Forecasts for both food and (bio)energy/biofuel demand illustrate that both
competition between food and biofuels and increased pressure on nature and
biodiversity are inevitable, if the current growth in biofuel demand continues.”
Source: Unilever presentation
“OPEN LETTER: WE CALL ON THE EU TO ABANDON
AGROFUEL TARGETS IN EUROPE”
A letter from over 250 organisations and individuals to the EU Council
www.biofuelwatch.org.uk
“In India, people see their land taken away and destroyed both for big and
‘sustainable’ development offsets, for large dams and small hydro projects
(Uttaranchal), new carbon sinks and jatropha wonder plantations (ITC,
Andhra Pradesh), environment-friendly wind mills (Maharashra, Satara), and
liquid and gaseous filth from the ‘clean and green’ companies who poison
their soils, rivers and air.
Beyond boundaries of their everyday lives and knowledge, climate games go
on with baselines, BAUs, additionality and CER vintages. The Himalayan
glaciers meanwhile continue to melt, cloudbursts and flash floods wipe away
whole villages, prolonged droughts and extremes of temperature create
havoc with agriculture, and cyclones devastate fisherfolk villages. The real
and perceptible danger of climate change is offset by the illusion of the
most absurd and impossible market human civilization has ever seen.”
Soumitra Ghosh,
National Forum of
Forest Peoples
and Forest Workers
www.fern.org
1C Fosseway Business Centre • Stratford Road
Moreton-in-Marsh • GL56 9NQ • UK
t +44 (0)1608 652 895
e jutta@fern.org
m +44 (0) 7931 576538
The campaigning NGO for greater environmental and social justice, with a focus on forests
and forest peoples rights in the policies and practices of the EU
