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Top scientists warn against rush to biofuel

Brown plans to resist EU plans for increased quotas as doubts multiply

* James Randerson and Nicholas Watt
* The Guardian,
* Tuesday March 25 2008
* Article history

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This article appeared in the Guardian on Tuesday March 25 2008 on p1
of the Top stories section. It was last updated at 01:56 on March 25 2008.
Trucks are loaded with sugar cane, which will be used to produce
biofuels, in Brazil

Trucks are loaded with sugar cane, which will be used to produce
biofuels, in Brazil. Photograph: Paulo Whitaker/Reuters

Gordon Brown is preparing for a battle with the European Union over
biofuels after one of the government's leading scientists warned they
could exacerbate climate change rather than combat it.

In an outspoken attack on a policy which comes into force next week,
Professor Bob Watson, the chief scientific adviser at the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said it would be wrong to
introduce compulsory quotas for the use of biofuels in petrol and
diesel before their effects had been properly assessed.

"If one started to use biofuels ... and in reality that policy led to
an increase in greenhouse gases rather than a decrease, that would
obviously be insane," Watson said. "It would certainly be a perverse
outcome."

Under the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation, all petrol and diesel
must contain 2.5% of biofuels from April 1. This is designed to ensure
that Britain complies with a 2003 EU directive that 5.75% of petrol
and diesel come from renewable sources by 2010.

But scientists have increasingly questioned the sustainability of
biofuels, warning that by increasing deforestation the energy source
may be contributing to global warming.

Watson's warning was echoed last night by Professor Sir David King,
who recently retired as the government's chief scientific adviser. He
said biofuel quotas should be put on hold until the results were known
of a review which has been commissioned by ministers.

"What is absolutely desperately needed within government are people of
integrity who will state what the science advice is under whatever
political pressure or circumstances," he said.

The EU plans to raise the compulsory biofuel quota to 10% by 2020, but
Brown is understood to be ready to challenge this plan. A senior
government source said last night: "There is a growing feeling that we
need to get all the facts. Some biofuels are OK but there are serious
questions about others. More work needs to be done."

Sources say the government has no choice but to implement the
guidelines next month because Britain is obliged under EU law to
comply with the 2010 target.

But the report on biofuels, to come from the head of the Renewable
Fuels Agency, Professor Ed Gallagher, may be used to challenge the
more ambitious target for 2020, which is not set in law.

John Beddington, the government's current chief scientific adviser,
has already expressed scepticism about biofuels. At a speech in
Westminster this month he said demand for biofuels from the US had
delivered a "major shock" to world agriculture, which was raising food
prices globally. "There are real problems with the unsustainability of
biofuels," he said, adding that cutting down rainforest to grow the
crops was "profoundly stupid".

Britain will move cautiously in its battle with Brussels because José
Manuel Barroso, the European commission president, is championing the
10% target for 2020. Barroso this month dismissed as "exaggerated"
claims that biofuels can lead to increases in food prices and
greenhouse gas emissions due to deforestation. But other members of
the commission and other countries, including Germany, sympathise with
Britain.

Brown was due to release a report touching on issues including
biofuels, when he met Barroso in Brussels last month. But the prime
minister decided that the time was "not right or ripe".

The prime minister made clear that Britain is wary of the target when
he said last November: "I take extremely seriously concerns about the
impact of biofuels on deforestation, precious habitats and on food
security, and the UK is working to ensure a European sustainability
standard is introduced as soon as possible, and we will not support an
increase in biofuels over current target levels until an effective
standard is in place."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/25/biofuels.energy1