By Ben Webster, Enviromental Editor, The Times

Using fossil fuel in vehicles is better for the environment than so-called green fuels made from crops, according to a government study seen by The Times.

The findings show that the Department for Transport's target for raising the level of biofuel in all fuel sold in Britain will result in millions of acres of forest being logged or burnt down and converted to plantations. The study, likely to force a review of the target, concludes that some of the most commonly-used biofuel crops fail to meet the minimum sustainability standard set by the European Commission.

Under the standard, each litre of biofuel should reduce emissions by at least 35 per cent compared with burning a litre of fossil fuel. Yet the study shows that palm oil increases emissions by 31 per cent because of the carbon released when forest and grassland is turned into plantations. Rape seed and soy also fail to meet the standard.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7044708.ece

Posted by The Editor, Brsitol 24-7

Bristol City councillors have thrown out an application to build a controversial biofuel power plant in Avonmouth, after rejecting legal advice and planning officers' reports.

At a heated meeting in the Council House this afternoon, members of the Development Control (North) Committee voted six to two against the plan submitted by W4B Bristol to build a ‘green' energy plant to power the equivalent of 25,000 homes.

http://www.bristol247.com/2010/02/24/biofuel-plant-rejected-in-landmark-planning-decision/

Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com

Whole Foods pledges to use only sources of palm oil that have been independently verified and certified to meet environmental and social sustainability criteria in its private label brand products by 2012.

America's largest organic grocer has announced its products will no longer use palm oil sourced from unsustainable producers, reports the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), an activist group that has led a campaign against destructive palm oil production. The move adds pressure on the palm oil industry to develop an effective and credible certification system for palm oil.

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0224-whole_foods_palm_oil.html

 Lian Pin Koh (ETH Zürich) and Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com
February 22, 2010


Payments for forest conservation under the proposed REDD mechanism are unlikely to provide a viable economic alternative to oil palm agriculture at current prices.

In less than a generation oil palm cultivation has emerged as a leading form of land use in tropical forests, especially in Southeast Asia. Rising global demand for edible oils, coupled with the crop's high yield, has turned palm oil into an economic juggernaut, generating US$ 10 billion in exports for Indonesia and Malaysia, which account for 85 percent of palm oil production, alone. Today more than 40 countries - led by China, India, and Europe - import crude palm oil.

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0222-palmoil.html

For the first time, sales of certified sustainable palm oil have nearly met production, reports the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a group that has developed the leading environmental certification standard for palm oil.

In its February bulletin, the RSPO says that about 98 percent of the 120,000 metric tons of palm oil produced in January were purchased by processors and retailers.

The news suggests that demand for certified palm oil is finally picking up after a slow start.

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0205-rspo.html