BIOFUELS: BioETHICS
Policy Reboot
The growth of biofuel development has been driven by three key global challenges: maintenance of energy security, economic development and mitigation of climate change. The apparent potential of biofuels to address all three of these challenges makes expanded production attractive to policymakers, and a range of policy mechanisms that encourage the development and integration of biofuels are in place. For example, the European Union’s 2009 Renewable Energy Directive effectively established that biofuels should account for 10% of transport fuel by 2020 — a target Europe seems to be on track to meet.
However, as large-scale production of biofuels has developed, some serious problems have emerged, ranging from deforestation to displacement of indigenous people.
One of the most contentious issues is indirect land use change (ILUC). This refers to the farming of biofuel feedstock on farmland previously used for food crops and leading to the conversion of land such as forest, peat and wetland elsewhere for food crops; this practice raises the potential for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to climate change.
In response to this and other concerns, a report entitled Biofuels: Ethical Issues was published following an independent 18-month inquiry by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, which sets out an ethical framework to guide policymaking for biofuel development. Policies like the European Renewable Energy Directive have “backfired badly,” says Joyce Tait, CBE FRSE FSRA, Chair of the Council and lead author of the study.
The report says that existing policies should be replaced by a new enforceable strategy governed by strict ethical and environmental standards. It suggests six principles as the basis for future international biofuel policies.
· Biofuels development should not be at the expense of people’s essential rights (including access to sufficient food and water, health rights, work rights and land entitlements).
· Biofuels should be environmentally sustainable.
· Biofuels should contribute to a net reduction of total greenhouse gas emissions rather than exacerbate global climate change.
· Biofuels should develop in accordance with trade principles that are fair and recognize the rights of people to just reward (including labor and intellectual property rights).
· Costs and benefits of biofuels should be distributed in an equitable way.
· If the aforementioned five principles are respected and biofuels can play a crucial role in mitigating dangerous climate change, then — assuming key considerations — there is a duty to develop them.
If a biofuels technology meets all the proposed environmental and ethical standards, then there is a “duty” to develop it, the report says, because biofuels have the potential to help tackle climate change and provide new jobs and sources of income, especially for poor farmers in developing countries.
Richard Templer, director of the Porter Institute for Sustainable Bioenergy Research at Imperial College London, says he “can’t disagree” with the ethical principles set out in the report. But he points out that the land used for biofuel production is only a fraction of that used for agriculture. “We would like to see these principles apply to all uses of land,” he says.
“Biofuels cannot become economically sustainable if those industries that account for the majority of land use do not also abide by the principles,” Templer adds.
The report makes several policy recommendations to apply these principles. For example, it calls for European biofuel targets to be replaced with a more sophisticated target-based strategy that takes into account the wider consequences of biofuel production. This strategy, the report suggests, should include an ethical standard that incorporates the basic principles set forth in the report and should be enforced through a mandatory certification scheme for all biofuels supplied in Europe.
The report makes further recommendations with regard to each of the ethical principles. For example, the European Commission is urged to establish monitoring systems such that sanctions may be enforced swiftly when human rights abuses are detected and, further, to use a single international standard for assessing life cycle GHG emissions for biofuels. The report also suggests that trade principles developed as part of biofuels certification should be proportionate and considerate of different regional requirements for protecting their own vulnerable populations.
Additionally, the report recommends the United Nations Environment Program develop an international standard for the environmental sustainability of biofuels.
Researchers are developing types of biofuels that can be grown on less land and produce fewer greenhouse gases, but this next generation is still years away from commercial use. The report calls on policy-makers to spur research and development in these technologies that also could reduce the effect of biofuels on food security.
Shaping Policy with Ethics
Environmental, economic and ethical issues affecting and affected by biofuel production are inextricably linked. Biofuel growth must be guided by international policies that promote ethical, sustainable biofuel production and protect the most vulnerable — poor farmers, land and water resources and endangered ecosystems. We must direct our considerable intellectual resources and our ethics to guide us in this and all endeavors involving the planet we share.
A key challenge is to ensure that policy decisions around biofuels are made in the full awareness of the ethical implications. Drawing on moral values such as human rights, solidarity, sustainability, stewardship and justice, the ethical principles set forth in the Nuffield report, should guide policymakers in evaluating biofuel technologies and policy development.
As a rule, the main drivers of government support for biofuels have been concerns about energy security and climate change as well as a political will to support the farm sector.
Current government policies include:
· mandatory blending of a percentage of biofuels with regular diesel or gasoline,
· subsidies for distribution and use of biofuels,
· tariffs on imported biofuels to protect domestic producers,
· tax incentives on the sale of biofuels as well as
· increased support for research and development.
Such policies, indeed, overlook vital humanitarian and environmental considerations in the growth of biofuel development.
At a minimum, thoughtful policies would:
· protect those who are poor and have insecure food supplies.
· create conditions where poorer countries and small farmers can take advantage of future market opportunities.
· ensure that biofuels are effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while protecting land and water resources.
· reduce and avoid distortions in biofuel and agricultural markets.
· be developed with appropriate international coordination.
In addition, the policy recommendations published in the Nuffield report, Biofuels: Ethical Issues, and repeated again here, must be incorporated for a more comprehensive, bioethical policy strategy:
· Biofuels development should not be at the expense of people’s essential rights (including access to sufficient food and water, health rights, work rights and land entitlements).
· Biofuels should be environmentally sustainable.
· Biofuels should contribute to a net reduction of total greenhouse gas emissions rather than exacerbate global climate change.
· Biofuels should develop in accordance with trade principles that are fair and recognize the rights of people to just reward (including labor and intellectual property rights).
· Costs and benefits of biofuels should be distributed in an equitable way.
· If the aforementioned five principles are respected and biofuels can play a crucial role in mitigating dangerous climate change, then — assuming key considerations — there is a duty to develop them.
Unintended impacts of biofuel development on market prices and food-security have frequently been overlooked in policy discussions. Uncertainties regarding the economic viability of biofuels remain, because of the influence of oil and crop price fluctuations, as well as future policy and technical developments. Biofuels are influenced by a wide range of policies and a coordinated approach is needed to consider overall benefits and risks.
With the positive contribution of biofuels toward energy security and greenhouse gas emission reductions falling short of expectations, national policies must recognize the international consequences of biofuel development. Cooperation at the international level is the only effective way to correct global agricultural policy failure and improve allocation of resources.
Alkane thanks Matt Cunningham and Dave Roos, writing for auto.howstuffworks.com , Greenfacts.org, Alena Buyx, Asst Director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, writing for makingitmagazine.net,Natasha Gilbert, writing for nature.com, and ec.europa.eu for the content of this article.
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