ePolitix Dods
  • Log-out
  • Logged-in as: Sue Perkins
  • Home
  • Policy
  • Legislation
  • The 1832 Blog
  • Events
  • Member Directory
    • Parliament & Government
    • Education
    • Health
    • Home Affairs
    • Culture
    • International & Defence
    • Energy & Environment
    • Economy
    • Transport
    • Communities

    Biofuels 'must not threaten food security'

    Bookmark and Share

    Member News

    Unite warns agricultural workers could be 'on the breadline' under a Tory government

    BRC reacts to manifestos

    Planning for the environment

    The climate revolution: Time to join the fight

    Union debate in London today on nuclear power role in sustainable energy policy

    14th October 2009

    Labour MP Barry Gardiner introduced an adjournment debate on biofuels on Tuesday night.

    He told the House there is a global challenge facing the world ahead of the UN conference on climate change meeting in Copenhagen in December.

    In its last report, the intergovernmental panel on climate change considered that the 2° C rise in temperature that marks dangerous climate change would be triggered by a CO2 emissions concentration level of 450 parts per million.

    Gardiner argued that biofuels and biomass could play an important role in meeting the mitigation targets.

    He added that the UK renewable energy strategy, published earlier this year, has indicated that approximately 30 per cent of the UK's renewable energy target could come from bioenergy for heat and power.

    Gardiner said that globally, the land cover under biofuel crops is projected to grow by 240 per cent between 2005 and 2030, set against the rising demand for food crops as the planet's population rises from 6 billion towards 9.7 billion by 2050.

    The Gallagher report, he noted, confidently predicts that sufficient appropriate land will be available to meet both biofuel and agricultural food needs through to 2020.

    However he said: "Very openly, very honestly, the report also states that it has made no estimate of the likely conflicts over land use that may arise after that".

    Gardiner proposed that the expansion of biofuels should "not come at the expense of food security or of land of high biodiversity and conservation value".

    Government should work with stakeholders to create internationally recognised sustainability criteria that are "credible, consistent and independently certifiable".

    Responding for the government, energy and climate change minister David Kidney congratulated Gardiner for securing the debate.

    He noted that "land and our natural environment play a vital role in helping the UK to achieve its own goals of decarbonising its energy production and increasing its security of supply".

    Kidney recognised that land is not a "boundless resource", and that issues such as rising populations and changes in lifestyles in the developed and developing worlds mean that the demands on space are greater than ever.

    The government, he stated, are taking forward several measures to ensure that increases in biomass production in this country are sustainable.

    And results will shortly be available on government-funded research identifying idle and marginal land for energy crop production and developing solutions for growing crops so that their potential benefits to soil carbon and biodiversity are realised.

    He noted how the government is also active internationally, and the UK has been "instrumental in ensuring that the renewable energy directive contains mandatory sustainability criteria for biofuels", including delivering greenhouse gas savings of at least 35 per cent and making it a condition that they must not be sourced from areas of high biodiversity or from high-carbon soils such as rainforests or wetlands.

    Concluding, he said decarbonising energy supply and use is at the heart of the government's efforts to tackle climate change.

    "We have put in place a clear strategy and an action plan to deliver significant increases in the production of renewable energy in the UK, and we expect sustainable biomass-based energy and fuels to play an important part in achieving our goals," he said.

    Bookmark and Share

    Have your say...

    Please enter your comments below.

    Name

    Your e-mail address


    Listen to audio version

    Please type in the letters or numbers shown above (case sensitive)

    Related News

    Flello calls for sustainable farming

    Prime minister - CBI speech in full

    Prime minister - Statement in full

    Coaltion energy policy 'not credible'

    Britain will 'remain at Pakistan’s side'



    Latest news

    Gove unveils schools revolution

    The education secretary has announed a wide-ranging series of reforms to schools.


    Cameron addresses press gallery

    David Cameron has attended a lobby lunch with parliamentary journalists, the first prime minister to do so since Margaret Thatcher.


    PM vows to clear Parliament Square

    The prime minister has pledged to clear the permanent peace camp in Parliament Square ahead of the Royal wedding on April 29.


    Leaders clash on schools sports funding


    ePolitix.com: PMQs briefing


    Labour questions schools network contract


    Children tell it like it is


    Time to end Lancashire's LEP confusion


    More from ePolitix.com


    RSS feeds

    • News
    • MP articles
    • Peer articles
    • Researcher articles
    • Legislation

    Policy

    • Education
    • Health
    • Home Affairs
    • Culture
    • More...

    Archives

    • MP articles
    • Peer articles
    • Member articles
    • Blog posts
    • ePolitix.com comment

    The House Magazine

    • About the magazine
    • Contact the magazine
    • Advertising
    • Subscriptions
    • Articles archive
    • Contact us
    • Terms and conditions
    • Advertising opportunities
    • About our Members
    • Services for parliamentarians
    • Sign up for free politics bulletins

    More from Dods


    • Dods.co.uk
    • Dods people
    • Dods monitoring
    • Dods Events
    • Dods Training
    • Public affairs news
    • The Parliament
    • Public sector delivery
    • Westminster briefing
    • The House magazine
    • Civil Service Network
    • ePolitix
    • Euro Source
    • Civil Service Live
    • The training Journal
    Dods logo
    © Dods Ltd 2010