The Commission has been forced to release an annex to a study on the impact of biofuels policy it had withheld. The hidden information suggests that biodiesel made from soy beans can emit four times more greenhouse gases than conventional diesel.
A group of 12 environmental groups, including T&E, has written to the climate action commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, warning about the likely implications of new rules that will form part of the EU’s fuel quality directive.
A study undertaken by the European Commission into the potential for biofuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport has found that reductions can be made as long as biofuels are produced in small quantities, but after a certain point, the indirect effects of growing biofuel crops cause galloping increases in emissions.
France’s president Nicolas Sarkozy has abandoned his highly publicised tax on carbon emissions. But recent trends among EU finance ministries suggest the French are moving against the tide.
T&E, together with 11 other NGOs, has written to the Commissioner for Climate Action raising concerns over a proposal for calculating the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of fossil fuels under the 2009 fuel quality directive.
Officials are holding back evidence of biofuels' land-use impact. A coalition of four environmental organisations, including T&E, has filed a legal action against the European Commission over its refusal to release documents that are vital to the debate on biofuels.
Environmental organisations have reacted with alarm to draft guidance from the Commission aimed at clarifying sustainability rules for biofuels. NGOs fear the guidance, if brought into effect, would lead to more greenhouse gases as a result of biofuel production, not fewer.
The Dutch oil company Shell says it is scaling down its expansion into oil from tar sands, amid signs that the environmental disadvantages of ‘unconventional’ oil sources are leading to fears that such oils could be economically unviable. While Shell says it has confidence in enough conventional sources of oil, soaring costs in the tar sands region of Alberta, where it has invested in an oil project, have made further investment there less attractive.
A new study on aviation says the pace of improvements in aircraft energy efficiency is very slow, and no progress has been made in the last decade. It calls for a carbon dioxide emissions standard for aircraft already in production.
Norway is planning to scrap a tax exemption for biodiesel, joining a growing number of countries taking the view that users of biofuels should pay for them instead of taxpayers.