CCC conference 13 th May 2007 Agro/Biofuels – a Climate Disaster in the Making Agro/Biofuels - a...

CCC conference13th May 2007

Agro/Biofuels – a Climate Disaster in the Making

Agro/Biofuels- a climate disaster in the making

Biofuelwatch

working withGlobal Forest Coalition, Global Justice Ecology Project, Grupo de Reflexion Rural (Argentina), FERN, Watch Indonesia, Rettet den Regenwald e.V., Econexus, Munlochy Vigil, and Noah (Friends of the Earth Denmark), Corporate Europe Observatory, and Gaia

Foundation and World Rainforest Movement

introduced by Dr Andrew Boswell, biofuelwatch and UK Green Party councillor



Summary• US / EU Policy – WHY?• Voices from the South

– Food, social, land disruption– Neo-colonial agenda

• Do Agrofuels save or create more emissions?

• 2nd generation• Food security• The climate context



Exponential Growth



US / EU Policy – going off the graph

EU – 10% by 2020 (1% now)

2010 2020

US – 20% by 2020 (4% now)



Mega-scale Agrofuel drivers• Government and corporate subsidy and

promotion• Fits “Business as usual” policies and paradigms

– Year-on-year economic growth– Avoid unpopular “demand reduction” politics

• Short term “energy security” fix– Less pressure on Oil hotspots – Mid-East/Iraq– Stabilising Oil price?– EU / US Oil independence

• New global mega-industry– agribusiness, biotech, and chemical sectors – refining, tankage and shipping sectors – commodity markets (eg Palm Oil, sugar)



Massive land-use change in global South, and crop commodity traffic



• Step change in agriculture and global biosphere use

• Limited (or No) environmental and scientific scrutiny



Hundreds of NGOs in Latin America, Asia

and Africa have spoken out against large-scale biofuel

monocultures.



from a declaration by Latin American NGOs

• “We want food sovereignty, not biofuels…While Europeans maintain their lifestyle based on automobile culture, the population of Southern countries will have less and less land for food crops and will loose its food sovereignty…We are therefore appealing to the governments and people of the European Union countries to seek solutions that do not worsen the already dramatic social and environmental situation of the peoples of Latin America, Asia and Africa. “



Sawit Watch, Indonesian NGO• “Palm oil for biofuels increases social

conflicts and undermines land reform in Indonesia…It is unavoidable that, as a consequence of Europe's biofuels policy, the land rights of indigenous peoples and local communities will be relinquished further, and that food security will be undermined and lands for agricultural purposes and subsistence livelihoods will diminish.”



Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the

Earth Nigeria • “It is a push by industry to make

another scramble for Africa, grab the land and continue with business as usual. The industrial bio-energy push to do increased bio-energy demand will be nothing other than an effort at extending the frontiers of neo-colonialism in its continued march on the back of the fabled market forces”



Landless Movement of Brazil (MST) • “We can't call this a ‘bio-fuels program’.

We certainly can't call it a ‘bio-diesel program’. Such phrases use the prefix ‘bio-‘ to subtly imply that the energy in question comes from ‘life’ in general. This is illegitimate and manipulative. We need to find a term in every language that describes the situation more accurately, a term like agro-fuel. This term refers specifically to energy created from plant products grown through agriculture.”



Biofuel RefugeesU.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

recently highlighted biofuels • 5 million people at risk in West

Kalimantan, Indonesia• 60 million worldwide • Pushed off land, culture destroyed,

refugees go to big city slums• 'The speed with which this is happening we don't

really realize in our part of the world because the technology we have today and the economic resources that are at stake are so big, it happens overnight.‘ Ida Nicolaisen, UNPFII



Emission trickery

Exporting emissions from Northern

transport to Southern agriculture and

landuse

NB: Soil + Peat not included



Do Agrofuels save emissions?• What is the whole life-cycle?Built on Fossil Fuels

– Intensive agriculture – fossil fuel based – fertilisers, farm equipment, Nitrous oxide emissions (300* CO2), soil carbon emissions

– Feedstock transport, shipping– Refining (coal, gas fired plants!) ;

process chemicals• Lifecycle studies don’t scale up



Savings in isolation?• Corn Ethanol – 13% savings –

Berkeley 2006 study– Patzek – actually 50%-100% more CO2

for ethanol than for fossil fuels

• Deforestation biodiesel– Peat drainage – long term timebomb– 2-8 times as much CO2 biodiesel cf

fossil



Peat Destruction 1• Drainage: the dry peat - oxidises and

emits carbon dioxide. • Very rapidly in the tropics, and is often

accelerated by wildfires. • Peat fires in South-east Asia can burn

millions of hectares in one dry season and can last for weeks, sometimes even months, burning thick layers of peat and covering the region in thick smoke.

• Of the 21 million hectares of peatland in Indonesia 9 million hectares are drained and are decomposing or even burning.



Peat Destruction 2

•



Any Savings are diluted at system level

• THE DILUTION FACTOR - 1% biofuels today– Assume 10% C emissions savings litre for litre– Total saving = 0.1% saving globally

• Most optimistic 2020 : 5% BFs – 0.5% savings

• Same savings can be made by:– Each driver driving 0.5% less (ie 50 miles for UK driver)– Each driver goes 2 mph slower– Tyres inflated properly

• >20% transport sector savings can be achieved in 10-20 years– Sustainable transport, modal shift, social planning -

work-home relocation etc



What about second generation?

• Ligno-cellulosic• Use stalks and other plant parts

– Plus massive GM tech

• Cf: First generation – simple chemistry



Extra Energy Steps (1)



Extra Energy Steps (2)• Break down lignin

•500,000,000 years evolution

Biological splitting atom?

•Plants protective structure



Full spectrum GM• GM is being developed 1. For plants

– Weakened lignin (floppy trees)

2. Processing– GM enzymes, yeasts, fungi

3. Synthetic Biology

• Biohazards on unprecedented level


Agro/Biofuels – a Climate Disaster in the Making1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39

The deep cuts we really need

UK emissions

---- Government target____ Friends of the Earth Big Ask 3% annually ____ George Monbiot near linear >4% (90% by

2030) ____ George Monbiot 7% front-loaded (90% by 2030)____ George Monbiot 10% front-loaded (90% by 2030)

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

1990 2000 2010 2020

2050 Govt. target : 60% reduction

2010 Govt. target : 20% reduction

The GAP which must be closed



2nd generation can’t deliver deep cuts to transport emissions. Even if it could, they would not be soon

enough



Food securityThe US case• Direct food / fuel competition• World grain reserves lowest in 30 years -

14mt used to fuel US cars in 2006.• 60% rise in grain price in 2006 -

Speculators entering market• Jan 2007 Mexican food protests

– Diversion of US corn to ethanol

Global South• Cash crops /Exports vs. local food supply



The Climate Context• 1st generation biofuels

– Very little climate benefit – Often a climate disaster

• Eg Indonesian peat lands• Deforestation tropics• Yet being delivered massively before

• 2nd generation biofuels– 15-20 years to develop– BUT emissions must be cut now– Biohazards (even now in R&D)– Deforestation boreal and temporate

Transport sector DEMAND REDUCTION



What you can do• Show solidarity with communities in the global

South

• Sign up to the biofuelwatch yahoo group - send a blank email to [email protected]

• www.biofuelwatch.org.uk ALERTS and RESOURCES– UK government consultation on RTFO– sign a petition to Tony Blair – write to Tesco – Uganda’s Mabira rainforest - sugar cane plantations

• Email us at [email protected] if you would like to get more involved in the campaign.

CCC conference 13 th May 2007 Agro/Biofuels – a Climate Disaster in the Making Agro/Biofuels - a...

Documents

Transcript of CCC conference 13 th May 2007 Agro/Biofuels – a Climate Disaster in the Making Agro/Biofuels - a...