A “GREEN” fuel hailed as an answer to climate change could make it worse, an EU committee warned yesterday.
It said that EU legislation to encourage the use of biofuels, such as wood, ethanol or oils from crops risks “accelerating global warming”.
The report by the European Environment Agency Scientific Committee dismisses the widely-held view that burning biofuels is carbon neutral.
Supporters of biofuels claim carbon dioxide is only released during plant growth while fossil fuels emit greenhouse gases. But the report says this assumption is incorrect, adding: “If bioenergy production replaces forests or reduces forest growth which would otherwise sequester more carbon, it can increase the atmospheric carbon concentration.”
It adds: “Legislation that encourages substitution of fossil fuels by bioenergy... may even result in increased carbon emissions – thereby accelerating global warming.”
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