TheEU's current
indecisiononenvironmental criteria for biomasscould discredit
the wholeindustry, which lives off its climate-friendly image, Eric
Johnson, managing director of Atlantic Consulting, told EurActiv in an interview.
"The problem with not having
criteria is very large. It's very easy for people to source non-sustainable
biomass, which basically damages the environment and potentially damages human
health," said Johnson, who is also editor of the scholarly journal
Environmental Impact Assessment Review.
The consultant argued that
rejecting environmental safeguards would damage the public perception of the
whole biofuels industry, which has been boosted by its potential to cut
greenhouse gas emissions.
"[T]here are some people who
are just riding another boom wave, and it really has nothing to do with
protecting the environment," he lamented.
The EU is undecidedon the
issue, and divisions have even emerged within the European Commission.
The EU executive's transport and
energy department recommends that sustainability criteria for the use of
biomass should not be established, but the environment department would like to
see such safeguards strictly applied.
"I think the energy people,
transport people, to be fair to them, are defending their corner. They want to
see less dependence on fossil fuel imports, they want to see less dependence on
fossil fuels in general," Johnson commented. "[T]he environment
people are playing it straight. They're trying to protect the
environment."
The consultant added that air
pollutants like black carbon emitted in the process of burning biomass
constitute a real problem. He pointed out that the latest science puts the
impact of black carbon on global warming somewhere between 15% and 20%.
"It's more of a serious issue
in the developing world where you have these massive smog problems and
literally people are dying because of these horrible temperature inversions
where you get all the smog," Johnson said. "But nonetheless it's an
issue in the developed world as well."
Johnson's latest project tries to
tacklethe problem by creating a black carbon reduction mechanism. He
explained that this would work in the same manner as the Kyoto Protocol's Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM), where developed countries earn carbon credits by
financing carbon-cutting projects in the developing world.
Moreover, the programme
wouldbe directed specifically at the world's poor, who could use the
money to upgrade cooking equipment that damages both their health and the
climate, he explained.
Ideally, the mechanism could
eventually function under the auspices of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) like the CDM, Johnson envisioned.
(from
www.euractiv.eu)