PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release - 24th September 2007

Joint Press Release by Biofuelwatch and Econexus

UK and EU Biofuels policy in scientific doubt - the UK RTFO consultation
must be re-opened, and the EU must abandon plans to abolish set-aside TO
PLANT BIOFUELS IN 2008

Environmental NGOs say that a new paper from Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen
completely undermines the validity of UK and EU Biofuels policy.

The study suggests that emissions of a very powerful greenhouse gas -
nitrous oxide - during the production of common biofuels such as rapeseed
biodiesel and corn (maize) ethanol have been seriously underestimated.
Nitrous oxide, or 'laughing gas' is emitted when nitrogen based fertilisers
are used. If the new figures are taken into account then rapeseed
biodiesel, for example, is up to 70% worse for the climate than fossil fuel
diesel.

The NGOs call for policymakers in both the UK and EU take immediate action
on the report:

* The UK Department for Transport have just closed a consultation on
carbon reporting for the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). Yet
the research that some biofuels are calculated to produce more greenhouse
gases respectively than fossil fuels brings the baseline figures in the RTFO
proposed carbon accounting method into complete doubt.

As from April, consumers will not be able to buy fuel without added biofuel
- the RTFO will force all fuels to contain 2.5% biofuel at the pump. The
RTFO threatens to force biofuels on consumers that are blended from a
variety of global sources depending on commodity market prices that may be
more damaging to the climate than the fossil fuels they replace. The NGOs
call for the RTFO consultation to be re-opened.

* The EU is expected shortly to fast-track proposals into law to
effectively abolish set aside. This is to release up to 2.9m hectares of the
3.8m ha now under obligatory set-aside for growing more biofuels including
rape seed. A very positive effect of set-aside has been that it provided
habitats for species under pressure and increased farmland bio-diversity.
Abolishing set-aside in one fair swoop without a replacement environmental
management scheme will create a 'gap' and it will be wildlife who will
suffer. For example, 80% linnets spend the winter on set-aside in East
Anglia and will be placed under great pressure to survive. The NGOs call
for the EU environment ministers to abandon the proposed abolition of
set-aside.

Dr Andrew Boswell of biofuelwatch said "There is already plenty of
opportunity under the current RTFO rules for biofuels causing rainforest
destruction, impoverishment and dispossession of local populations, and
threatening food security to enter into UK fuel supplies - I've never seen
such a leaky regulatory bucket. Now Paul Crutzen's paper places the
calculations for European grown rape seed oil in complete doubt also, just
as EU policy makers want a massive expansion of rape seed growing. The UK
Department of Transport must re-open its consultation on the carbon
reporting of biofuels and fully rework the life cycle analysis, including
the effect of nitrogen, for all biofuels. Otherwise consumers will be
forced from April to buy biofuels that promote climate change and social
injustice. "

Helena Paul of Econexus said "This paper shows that expanding biofuel
production from oilseed rape and maize accelerates climate change. The EU
wants to abolish set-aside to grow more oilseed rape for biodiesel, but it
appears that this could increase, not reduce, greenhouse gas emissions.
Abolishing set-aside for biofuel production as proposed would place many
species under great pressure to survive without helping to avoid climate
change. We need a moratorium on these EU biofuel targets and incentives now
so there can be a proper debate on public policy."

Contacts:

Andrew Boswell, Biofuelwatch, UK: T: +44-1603-613798 M: +44-7787127881

E: andrew.boswell[at]yahoo.co.uk

Helena Paul, Econexus, UK: T: 0207 431 4357

E: h.paul[at]gn.apc.org

Almuth Ernsting, Biofuelwatch, UK: T: +44-1224-324797 M: +44 -7925 364186

E: info[at]biofuelwatch.org.uk

Further information:

Crutzen's paper

Overview and other links: http://www.physorg.com/news109581631.html

Paper in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

'N2O release from agro-biofuel production negates global warming reduction
by replacing fossil fuels'
http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/11191/2007/acpd-7-11191-2007.pdf

RTFO

Carbon and sustainability reporting within the renewable transport fuel
obligation

http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/closed/rtforeporting/

Consultation closed : 13th September 2007

Set-aside abolition plans

"EU urged to halt set-aside to boost grain production", September 14th

http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,2169082,00.html

Woodlarks, skylarks, tree sparrows and yellowhammers are amongst birds to
have benefited in the UK from set-aside because they can find food in winter
and undisturbed nesting sites in spring. In East Anglia, 80 per cent of
linnets spend the winter on set-aside, compared to one per cent on winter
cereals. In France, the little bustard is dependent on set-aside, in
Austria; set-aside is important to bird of prey in winter and a variety of
farmland birds (these are the birds I mentioned over lunch). Set-a-side has
also improved water quality by keeping land next to watercourses free of
fertilizers. In this way, it has partly compensated for environmental
damage caused by agricultural intensification. More on the different
wildlife / agricultural issues.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/media/releases/details.asp?id=tcm:9-166473

http://www.birdlife.org/news/features/2006/06/biofuels.html

http://www.birdlife.org/print.html?url=%2Fnews%2Fpr%2F2007%2F06%2Feurope_bir
d_declines.html

Notes:

1. For further details of the organisations involved see

Biofuelwatch: www.biofuelwatch.org.uk <http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/>

Econexus: www.econexus.info <http://www.econexus.info/>

2. An email action alert against the planned abolition of set-aside
targets for 2008 and for a moratorium on EU biofuel targets has been signed
by over 5300 individuals and can be found at
http://www.climateark.org/alerts/send.asp?id=europe_biofuel_ecosystem and
http://www.regenwald.org/international/englisch/protestaktion.php?id=195 .

3. A call for a Moratorium on EU biofuel targets and incentives, and on
large-scale monocultures for bioenergy in Europe has been signed by 152
organisations from the global North and South. The text and the list of
signatories can be found at http://www.econexus.info/biofuels.html .

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/23/bloomberg/bxcom.php

Price of palm oil predicted to leap

By
<http://www.iht.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?query=By%20Claire%20Leow%20and%20Prat
ik%20Parija&sort=publicationdate&submit=Search> Claire Leow and Pratik
Parija

<http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/23/bloomberg/bxcom.php> GOA, India:
Palm oil futures in Malaysia may advance as much as 15 percent during the
next year because of rising demand and a shortfall in supplies of vegetable
oils, Dorab Mistry, a director at Godrej International, said Sunday.

Prices might climb to up to 3,000 ringgit, or $870, a ton in the year ending
Sept. 30, 2008, Mistry said during a conference in Goa. Earlier this year,
he had predicted that prices would surpass 2,500 ringgit this year. Mistry
has traded vegetable oils since 1976.

Vegetable oils are increasingly used in biofuels as crude oil prices have
tripled to a record in five years. U.S. farmers have planted more corn to
meet demand for ethanol, pushing sowings of soybeans to a 12-year low.
Malaysia and Indonesia account for about 90 percent of palm oil output.

Palm oil on the Malaysian Derivatives Exchange, which trades the global
benchmark, touched a record 2,764 ringgit on June 6 and has averaged 59
percent more since January than a year ago. The most active contract gained
1.4 percent to 2,606 ringgit on Friday. Soybean oil, palm oil's main
competitor, reached a 23-year high of 40.49 cents on Tuesday.

Demand for vegetable oils in the year to September 2008 may rise by 5
million tons, while supply may increase by 3.9 million tons, Mistry said.
The incremental demand includes two million tons for biofuels and three
million for food purposes, he said.

Not all traders are backing Mistry's price outlook. Palm oil prices may fall
as low as 2,250 ringgit by January as output expands, James Fry, managing
director at commodity and biofuel researcher LMC International, said at the
conference in Goa. That's 14 percent lower than the closing price Friday.

Global palm oil production may rise to a record 41 million tons in the year
to September 2008, from a probable 37.38 million tons this year, as crops
recover from the dry season in Malaysia and Indonesia, said Thomas Mielke,
chief editor of Oil World, a trade publication. He said he expected prices
to trade between 2,300 and 2,600 ringgit in the next 12 months.

"Palm oil can partly fill the gap created by insufficient production growth
in soybeans, canola and sunflower," he said.

Palm oil is used in cooking, cleaning agents and as a fuel additive.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/23/bloomberg/bxcom.php