EU will demand sustainable biofuel production
May 24, 2007
"We want to define a minimum sustainability standard," Paul Hodson, a European Commission official, told a conference in Brussels. "We want to say if you don't meet the standards, you're not eligible for state aid and it doesn't count for the biofuel requirements."
The EU has mandated that biofuels make up at least 10 percent of liquid fuels used in Europe by 2020.
Chart showing annual palm oil production by Malaysia and Indonesia from 1964-2006. Click to enlarge.
The EU is said to be keen on a commodities accountability system presently under development by a Brazilian organization, Aliança da Terra, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. The system would allow buyers to verify the source of agricultural products including soybeans and beef.
Recent enthusiasm for biofuels has been tempered by fears that they may drive large-scale deforestation and produce similar levels of emissions to fossil fuels. Environmentalists have cited palm oil production in Indonesian and Malaysia and soybean cultivation in the Amazon as significant drivers of recent forest conversion.