EU must ensure bioenergy is really ‘green’

“Travelling in a car fuelled by biodiesel seems like a great, environmentally-friendly thing to do. However, if the biodiesel has come from soya planted in the Brazilian Amazon or palm oil from Indonesia, the green consumer is likely to be unwittingly driving another nail into the coffin of the world’s great ecosystems.” —Ariel Brunner, BirdLife

Bioenergy, which can be defined as energy generated from renewable biomass (i.e. living plants and plant components), has been hailed as one of the key weapons in the battle against global warming. However, as the European Commission releases its Biomass Action Plan, BirdLife has warned the EU that it must put in place strong environmental safeguards. Without these, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will be negligible and impacts on the broader environment will be severe.