UK environmentalist decries focusing indirect land use on biofuels

13 March 2012 20:44  [Source: ICIS news]

ROTTERDAM (ICIS)--Singling out biofuels for indirect land use change (ILUC) is unhelpful, British environmentalist Tony Juniper said on Tuesday.

Indirect land usage attempts to measure the amount of greenhouse gases a biofuel would emit during its lifetime. For biofuels depending on crops, that would include the pollutants emitted in cropland expansion, ploughing, harvesting and anything else it takes to grow and refine an ear of corn.

“We need to move past ILUC and look at land-use generally… [and] to look at demand for nature, food, fuel and fibre,” Juniper said at the World Biofuels Markets conference.

With a rising global population of 7bn, Juniper said there will be increased demand for energy and greater pressure on land.

“Land is the biggest single resource we need to worry about. How can we meet the demands of billions of people while keeping our ecosystems intact?” he said.

By: Sarah Trinder
+44 20 8652 3214

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