Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly proposed slowing down Britain's shift towards using more fuels produced from plants to give scientists more time to study the effects on the environment and food production.
Under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, suppliers must ensure that 2.5 percent of fuel sold at U.K. pumps consists of biofuels, which are made from crops and grasses. The requirement will rise to 5 percent by 2010, a 1.25 percent annual rate of growth. Kelly told lawmakers in London today that the pace should slow to annual increases of 0.5 percent.
“Given the uncertainty and potential concerns I believe it is right to adopt a more cautious approach until the evidence in clearer about the wider environmental and social effects of biofuels,'' Kelly told Parliament in London today. “We also need more to allow time for more sustainable biofuel technologies to emerge.''
Kelly's call comes after a government-commissioned report looking into the side effects of switching land to produce crops for energy instead of food. The study, by Ed Gallagher of the Renewal Fuels Agency, concluded that the U.K. should get to its 5 percent target by 2014 rather than 2011.
Britain has already suggested biofuels may do more harm than good. In March, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said he would consider eliminating a tax break on biofuels. Darling may scrap a 20-pence (40-cent) tax break on a liter of fuel from plants including as sugar cane and maize because, in some cases, producing those crops may harm the environment more than burning fossil fuels.
Today's announcement marks a further shift away from plan- based fuels. Policy makers in the European Union and U.S. have identified biofuels as a tool to fight global warming, because they emit less greenhouse gases than fossil fuels.
Biofuel Shift
The U.K.'s stand may cause friction with other European Union countries, which have committed to have biofuel make up 10 percent of all fuel used by 2020. Gallagher recommended that target should fall to 8 percent.
The U.S. recently enacted legislation aiming to boost biofuel production to 36 billion gallons in 2022 from 7.5 billion gallons in 2012.
Even with such a reduction, the change “will not put a brake on food price rises or halt rainforest destruction,'' Friends of the Earth, a pressure group, said in a statement.
