Agrofuels – Opportunity orDanger?

Session on Civil Society Perspectives

The campaigning NGO for greater environmental and social justice, with a focus on forests andforest peoples rights in the policies and practices of the EU

Jutta KillFERN Climate Campaign

Berlin 12-14 December 2007

Ø 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 planet2 - our economy’s / society’s addiction to fossil fuels:

Ø 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’

Ø 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

Ø if climate change were a genuine motivation for interest in agrofuel / bio-energy:

Ø prioritise most greenhouse gas efficient use of biomass rather than least efficient [liquid fuel]Ø high-fossil fuel intensity of current industrial farming model would be acknowledged and emphasis would be on decarbonising dominant industrial agricultural practiseØ agrofuels discussion in the North would take place in the context of parallel and visible action to climate-proof transport policies and priorities:

Prerequisits for a meaningful discussion about therole of bioenergy in a future energy mix - 1

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 MTOEReducing fuel consumption in passenger cars: 20 MTOE. or EVENReduce 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.

if security of energy supply were a genuine motivation for interest in agrofuel /bio-energy:Ø prioritise reduction of crude oil consumption

Prerequisits for a meaningful discussion about therole of bioenergy in a future energy mix - 2

Ø if rural development were a genuine motivation for interest in agrofuel / bio-energy:

Ø Priority on locally owned production for local / regional consumption

Ø prioritise cancellation of odious debt and overhaul of global agricultural commodities trade that force global South into export oriented crop production

Ø 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 therole of bioenergy in a future energy mix - 3

CDM - Who loses? The 80 families living in

Sarona, Uttaranchal whosetraditional irrigation system isbeing destroyed by thediversion of the river for the‘small-scale’ run-of-river hydroproject registered by the CDMwere never consulted by theGovernment or by SwastiPower

Prerequisits for a meanigful discussionabout the role of bioenergy in a futureenergy mix – 4

• Need to understand the politics of power

“Carbon trading ‘dispossesses ordinary people in the South of their lands andfutures 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 onBBC Radio Five Trading Trees Programme November 2006

"The trouble is that there are a lot of people out there making a lot ofmoney out of carbon trading and who want to perfect the market rather

than press for the changes that are actually needed.“ Oxford Universityeconomics professor Dieter Helm.

www.thecornerhouse.org.ukwww.dhf.uu.se

ØNeed to find a simple yet reliable way to tell false from genuine solutions:

Ø Will they concentrate or diffuse corporate power?

Ø [or, alternatively: will they strengthen or weaken local ownership over

land use decision making?]

Ø What kind of agricultural reality do current agrofuel policies incentivise?

ØCoherent with or in contradiction to public proclamations on agrofuels

and climate change, rural development,….

Prerequisits to a meanigful discussion about the role of bioenergy in a future energy mix

“Chevron, Weyerhaeuser to Study Biofuels Link-Up”

“DuPont Biofuels Exec Outlines Company’s Growth Plans”

“Syngenta and Diversa Enter New 10-yearEnzyme 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 current interest in agrofuels is motivated mainly by intention to slow just transition to post-carbon economies

Bioenergy can play a positive role in a future energy mix if we understand that there is no substitute for the densely packed energy thatfossil 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 bothcompetition between food and biofuels and increased pressure on nature andbiodiversity are inevitable, if the current growth in biofuel demand continues.”

Source: Unilever presentation

“OPEN LETTER: WE CALL ON THE EU TO ABANDONAGROFUEL 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), andliquid and gaseous filth from the ‘clean and green’ companies who poisontheir soils, rivers and air.

Beyond boundaries of their everyday lives and knowledge, climate games goon with baselines, BAUs, additionality and CER vintages. The Himalayanglaciers meanwhile continue to melt, cloudbursts and flash floods wipe awaywhole villages, prolonged droughts and extremes of temperature createhavoc with agriculture, and cyclones devastate fisherfolk villages. The realand perceptible danger of climate change is offset by the illusion of themost absurd and impossible market human civilization has ever seen.”

Soumitra Ghosh,National Forum ofForest Peoplesand Forest Workers

1C Fosseway Business Centre • StratfordRoad Moreton- in- Marsh • GL56 9NQ • UK

t +44 (0)1608 652 895e jutta@fern.orgm +44 (0) 7931 576538

www.fern.org

The campaigning NGO for greater environmental and social justice, with a focus on forests andforest peoples rights in the policies and practices of the EU