Millions of acres of forests will be destroyed and turned into plantations to meet the British government’s targets on increasing the level of biofuel sold across the country.
The government-commissioned study claims that by pursuing its biofuels target, the U.K. will fail to meet the minimum sustainability standard set by the European Commission (EC).
According to the standard, every liter of biofuel must reduce emissions by at least 35 percent compared to burning a liter of fossil fuel.
However, the study claims that palm oil, the most common form of biofuel, effectively increases emissions by 31 percent because of the carbon released when forests are turned into plantations.
Rape seed—also known as canola—and soy also fail to meet the EC standard.
The Department for Transport commissioned the study by consultancy E4tech, to assess the overall impact of its biofuel targets.
The EC has also carried out its own study but it is refusing to publish the results, the London Times reported.
According to a leaked memo from the EC’s agriculture directorate, seen by the newspaper, there is concern among officials that Europe’s biofuels industry—which receives $4.5 billion a year in subsidies—would be jeopardized if wider environmental considerations were brought in to assess biofuels.
“An unguided use of ILUC [indirect land use change] would kill biofuels in the E.U.,” one official wrote in the memo, the Times reported.
This year, some 3.25 percent of all fuels sold in the U..K must come from crops, under requirements from the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation.
The proportion is set to increase each year and by 2020 will have reached 13 percent.
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