The letter below has been sent to all MEPs and is supported by 35
organisations, including Biofuelwatch.

Almuth



CALL ON THE EU TO ABANDON 10% BIOFUEL TARGET

THOMSEN REPORT (A6- 0287/2007 - ITRE): "A ROADMAP FOR RENEWABLE
ENERGY IN EUROPE", 26th SEPTEMBER VOTE (24th SEPTEMBER DEBATE)

The undersigned organisations call on the European Parliament to
drop support for the proposed 10% target for biofuel use in the
transport sector (point 43, Thomsen report) and to support
amendments to this effect.

Growing and compelling evidence suggests that this target will
further contribute to highly destructive impacts on the climate,
biodiversity, communities and food security. The 10% target should
be dropped, and the sustainability of the agrofuels now used to meet
the current indicative target (5,75% by 2010) should be investigated.

PROBLEMS WITH BIOFUELS
Biofuels cannot solve the problem of GHG emissions in transport:
Most biofuels are produced from large-scale monocultures and
accelerate global warming by speeding up the destruction of forests,
peatlands, healthy soils and other ecosystems which are carbon sinks
and which help to regulate the climate. Biofuel monocultures promote
ecosystem destruction both directly and by displacement of other
activities. Social impacts include increased rural depopulation,
health impacts, land conflicts and human rights violations. Neither
certification nor life cycle analysis can take account of these
impacts. Right now, Paraguay is experiencing its worst fires on
record. Most of the fires have been set to clear land, much of it
for soya, since the growing demand for biofuels has pushed up soya
prices. Furthermore, the threat from biofuels to food security is a
real one and will get worse as global warming together with greater
land-use for biofuels combine to further reduce food supplies.

We cannot rely on second and third generation biofuels: The recent
OECD report makes it clear that major technological obstacles remain
that may not be overcome in the foreseeable future. Furthermore,
the safety of those technologies, which will rely heavily on genetic
engineering and synthetic biology, has not been assessed. Also,
since most second-generation biofuels are expected to be cellulose
based, this is likely to spur the expansion of large scale tree
plantations in the South, no less damaging than first generation
biofuel crops.

SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA CANNOT SOLVE THOSE PROBLEMS
We are glad to see sustainability concerns remain at the center of
the Parliament's attention. In March, the EU Heads of State made
clear they would only endorse a mandatory 10% target if the
sustainability of the biofuels could be guaranteed. Current
proposals by the European Commission and several EU member states on
this issue, however, do not provide any such guarantee. Criteria and
life cycle analyses cannot address impacts like displacement. In
addition, the European Commission proposal ignores all social and
most environmental concerns. No solutions for displacement and
acceleration of climate feedbacks are considered. The question as to
how much biomass can be sustainably sourced for biofuels without
causing harm to ecosystems, the climate, communities and food
production has not been addressed. Draft plans from the UK and the
Netherlands only involve mandatory reporting for the coming years,
without repercussions for bad practice.

FUEL QUALITY DIRECTIVE
We would also like to draw the attention of MEPs to the Fuel Quality
Directive, which goes to the Environment Committee in November. The
deadline for amendments is October 2nd and we urge MEPs to be aware
that the low carbon fuel targets, or `greenhouse gas reduction
targets' proposed in this Directive are effectively biofuel targets,
as made clear by Stavros Dimas who, when publishing the draft
Directive said: [this will] "open the way for a major expansion in
the use of biofuels." Liquid fossil fuels will inevitably become
more carbon-intensive and more polluting as the most easily
accessible oil is depleted. No legislation about `greenhouse gas
reduction from fuels' can change this fact. The only way of cutting
our transport emissions is demand reduction – this means reducing
levels of individual road transport as well as mandatory fuel
efficiency standards.

We will be writing to you shortly at greater length about this
directive (Brussels, 31 January 2007 COM(2007) 18 and the draft
report PROVISIONAL 2007/0019(COD) that seek to amend Directive
98/70/EC.
The undersigned organisations urge the Parliament to reject the 10%
biofuels target and to send a clear signal to the Commission that
the current plans about `sustainability criteria' are very far from
acceptable.

Signatories:

+ Grupo de Reflexion Rural Europe, Stella Semino
+ Munlochy Vigil, UK, Anthony Jackson
+ Biofuelwatch, UK, Almuth Ernsting
+ Robin Wood, Germany, Peter Gerhardt
+ Ecologistas en Accion, Spain, Tom Kucharz
+ Rettet den Regenwald, Germany, Reinhard Behrend
+ NOAH - FoE Denmark, Bente Hessellund Andersen
+ Econexus, Helena Paul
+ Carbon Trade Watch, Tamra Gilberton
+ Watch Indonesia, Marianne Klute
+ Corporate Europe Observatory, Nina Holland
+ Arbeitsgruppe Schweiz Kolumbien (Swiss Working Group on Colombia),
Switzerland, Stephan Suhner,
+ Earle Bingley
+ Down to Earth, UK, Liz Chidley
+ GMO Information Centre, Romania, Ramona Duminicioiu
+Ecoropa, Christine von Weizsäcker
+ Centre for Orangutan Protection / COP, Indonesia, Hardi Baktiantoro
+ Rainforest Information Centre, Australia, John Seed
+ Bruno-Manser-Fonds, Basel / Switzerland, Lukas Straumann
+ Borneo Resources Institute (BRIMAS), Malaysia, Mark Bujang
+ GDOHP (No to GMOs Platform), Turkey, Arca Atay
+ Freunde der Naturvölker e.V., Germany, Steffen Keulig
+ Catholic Concern for Animals, Deborah Jones
+ Scottish Wildlife Trust, UK, Jonathan Hughes
+ Medact, UK, Marion Birch
+GLOBAL 2000/Friends of the Earth Austria, Jens Karg
+ Gaia Foundation, UK, Teresa Anderson
+ GM Freeze, UK, Pete Riley
+ Gesellschaft für bedohte Völker GfbV, Germany, Yvonne Bangert
+ Borneo Orangutan Survival INTERNATIONAL, Robert K. Schmidt

[Additional signatures added after the letter was sent to MEPs:
+ Friends of the Earth Sweden
+ Xàrxa de l'Observatori del Deute en la Globalitzación (Catalonia,
Spanish State), Mónica Vargas
+ autofrei leben! e.V., Germany
+ KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, Hawaii ]

Further information
OPEN LETTER: WE CALL ON THE EU TO ABANDON TARGETS FOR BIOFUEL USE
IN EUROPE, 31 January 2007
http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/2007Jan31-openletterbiofuels.pdf

Call for an immediate moratorium on EU incentives for agrofuels, EU
imports of agrofuels and EU agroenergy monocultures
http://www.econexus.info/biofuels.html

Agrofuels - Towards a reality check in nine key areas -
Biofuelwatch, Carbon Trade Watch/TNI, Corporate Europe Observatory,
Econexus, Ecoropa,Grupo de Reflexión Rural, Munlochy Vigil, NOAH
(Friends of the Earth Denmark), Rettet Den Regenwald and Watch
Indonesia http://tinyurl.com/233x7n