UN Plans to Introduce New Carbon Offsetting Scheme For Saving Rain Forests

The United Nations plans to introduce a new market-based emissions trading scheme which would allow developed nations to buy credits from countries having vast stretches of rain forests. The UN hopes that the new scheme would help reduce deforestation and restore the depleting resource of rain forests.

Called the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, REDD, the emission permits would be traded in a way similar to the Certified Emission Reduction permits. The REDD permits would help raise funds for restoring the fast depleting rain forests in the African, South American and South East Asian countries and in return the developed nations would be able to achieve the set emissions reduction goals. The UN plans to include this scheme in the next climate treaty which would follow the Kyoto Protocol.

But there are several problems with the basic model of the REDD emissions credits which would work principally in the same manner as the Kyoto carbon credits scheme. UN administrators have themselves admitted that the current carbon emissions trading mechanism should be made more transparent and effective. In addition, global banking giants have also slammed the Clean Development Mechanism saying that it is plagued by unnecessary delays and bureaucratic hurdles.

UK Seeks to Tap Algae on its Shores for Biofuels

Marine scientists in Scotland are set to initiate a £5 million study which could transform seaweeds and marine plant algae into major sources of low emission automobile fuel in Britain. The scientists are calling them the mari-fuels and they hope that fuels produced from the seaweeds and algae would in part replace the controversial biofuels produced from food crops.

The study, which will be funded in part by The European Union, would look to formalize the best possible way of exploiting the vast reserves of the seaweeds which are found in great abundance along the British coastline.

The study holds great importance for Britain as it could help it achieve the emissions targets set by the EU. British government would be keening waiting for the outcome of the study as it sees fuels from plants an instrument to reduce or at least neutralize its carbon emissions. Britain wants 2.5 percent of all petrol and diesel to be produced from renewable sources like plants.

The biggest advantage of exploiting biofuels from marine plant algae is that it’s a completely natural process which requires almost no anthropogenic activity. They grow at a much greater rate as compared to the food crops, no environment degrading fertilizers are required and no deforestation. The seaweeds derive energy from ammonia produced as waste from farms of salmon fish. So it’s actually fuel from waste.

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Accountibilty, Quality Issues Raise Questions About Effectiveness Of Biofuels In Britain

View of palm oil plantation in Bogor, Indonesia

Amidst the worsening food crisis and widespread poverty nations around the world continue to back biofuels as the replacement of fossil fuels. Even after a World Bank report blamed excessive biofuel production for the skyrocketing food prices the producer and importer countries seem unwilling to reform their production and usage methods. The European Union continues to overlook the concerns made by several of its member countries which have voiced concerns about the environmental effects of biofuel production and has so far refused to suspend or rethink its renewable energy goal which aims to include 10% biofuel in transport fuel by 2020. The producers too are dodging global criticism and forging biofuel deals across the world as they seek to take advantage of the rising demand.

But while setting goals for use of clean fuels is a good thing failing to take steps to prevent deforestation and other environmental catastrophes is bad. And that ’s what the many importers of biofuels are doing, Britain being one of them. A recent study by the Renewable Fuels Agency of Britain points out that merely 19% of the biofuel used in Britain meets the environmental standards and whose origins can be traced back to confirm that they were produced in a sustainable way while the rest 81% don’t fulfill the quality requirements or address the sustainability issues satisfactorily.

Biofuels From Industrial/Domestic Wastewater

Biofuels turned from being the solution of world’s rising carbon emissions to the cause of a global food crisis which seems to be worsening day by day. Record demand and subsidies amounting for billions of dollars made the farmers dump the traditional food crops and grow biofuel crops like corn, maize and palm; millions of acres of forests were cleared away to make way for biofuels crops plantations. The way these biofuels are being produced is highly unsustainable since it results in more carbon emissions and shortage of food crops.

Scientists who believe that biofuels can still play an important roll in mankind’s transition to clean fuels are trying to find new, eco-friendly methods of their production. One important breakthrough came when Jim Sears of Sulix Biofuels produced biodiesel using algae. The principle behind the technology is simple:

Algae need water, sunlight and carbon dioxide to grow. The oil they produce can then be harvested and converted into biodiesel; the algae’s carbohydrate content can be fermented into ethanol. Both are much cleaner-burning fuels than petroleum-based diesel or gas.

EU In Dilemma Over Biofuel Policy

By the year 2020 EU wants biofuels to constitute 10 percent of all vehicular fuels but already it is facing hurdles in implementing steps to achieve that goal. With biofuels earning bad name world over the EU member states have been forced to rethink the current biofuel policy. There are calls to look for sustainable biofuel production but the member states haven’t reached any consensus over how the policy should be modified. There have been calls of a complete suspension of the ‘10 percent’ goal.

Indonesia Seeks To Pressurize G8 Over Emission Cut Targets

By setting up the goal of an absolute emissions cut for its energy sector, Indonesia has become one of the first developing countries to formally announce a carbon emissions cut. The announcement which comes at a time when US and Japan are being asked to cut back on their emissions is expected to put pressure on the developed countries to set serious reduction targets.

The Indonesian environment minister said that the situation is fast deteriorating and unless some serious steps are taken the world would have to face grave consequences. But the minister failed to elaborate the steps his country would be taking to reduce the emissions of the energy sector. He claimed that government would implement laws to prevent large scale deforestation but that is easier said than done.