Biofuels could play an important role in reducing emissions - but they must be handled properly

Biofuels could play an important role in reducing emissions - but they must be handled properly

Biofuels risk failing to deliver significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from transport, and could even damage the environment, unless the right government policies are implemented, a report from The Royal Society has warned.

Sustainable Biofuels: prospects and challenges says that the UK’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), coming into force in April, does not necessarily encourage usage of the kinds of biofuels offering the best greenhouse gas savings. Although the obligation requires fuel suppliers to ensure that five per cent of all fuels sold in the UK by 2012 are from a renewable source, it does not contain a target to reduce emissions.

The RTFO is the UK’s implementation of the EU Biofuels Directive, which also does not include a greenhouse gas reduction target. The directive will therefore do more for economic development and energy security than for climate change.

Professor John Pickett, who chaired the Royal Society study, said: “Biofuels could play an important role in cutting greenhouse gas emissions from transport, both here and globally. Cars, lorries and domestic air travel are responsible for a massive 25 per cent of all the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, and this figure is growing faster than any other sector.

“The government must ensure that the RTFO promotes fuels with the lowest emissions by, for example, setting a greenhouse gas reduction target. This will help encourage the improvement of existing fuels and accelerate the development of new ones. Without a target, we risk missing important opportunities to stimulate exciting innovations that will help us cut our spiralling transport emissions.”

The report also recommends that the RTFO be extended for 20 years in order to stimulate the kind of long-term investment necessary to create a stronger UK biofuels industry.

But it adds that biofuels are not the “silver bullet” for meeting rising demand for transport while cutting carbon emissions, arguing that delivering a sustainable transport system will require combining biofuels with other options, such as improved vehicle and engine design, better use of public transport and improved urban and rural planning.