US, China, Brazil and the EU launch joint initiative to promote biofuels

[Doondoo]

Brazil, the United States, China and the European Commission launched a joint initiative in New York on Friday to promote development of an international market for biofuels which are seen as a viable alternative to fossil fuels.

Joined by India and South Africa, they announced at a press conference here the launch of a mechanism to create a world market to spur production, distribution and use of biofuels, which can also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"Biofuels constitute a viable economic alternative for the immediate partial substitution of fossil fuels and the diversification of the world's energy mix," Brazilian Ambassador to the United States Antonio Patriota said as he formally announced the launch of the International Biofuels Forum.

"The introduction of biofuels is highly advantageous both for developing and developed countries," he added.

"By working together we will be able to identify means and ways to help countries with agricultural productive potential to become major energy suppliers," said US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon. "This is a huge step forward in the development of a new international understanding of energy."


http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__business/&articleid=300872

[GliderGuider]

1. Oh Sweet Jesus.

"...a viable alternative to fossil fuels"? "...highly advantageous both for developing and developed countries,"? In which universe? By developing an international market for this shit they will be spreading its production into countries that can least afford the environmental or energy costs. They should ask the Dutch about their experience with biofuels:

Seeing Red: Palm Oil Biodiesel

Promoted by hundreds of millions of dollars in national subsidies, the Netherlands quickly became the leading importer of palm oil in Europe, taking in 1.7 million tons in 2006, nearly double the previous year.

Now it is increasingly difficult to ignore the mounting body of scientific evidence that palm oil plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia, rather than preserving the environment are in fact actively destroying it. By subsidising biofuels, European governments have artificially raised demand for palm oil in Europe, and accelerated the destruction of huge areas of rainforest in South East Asia. Palm oil plantations are often expanded by draining and burning peatland, releasing enormous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. As a result Indonesia has become the world's third largest emitter of carbon dioxide, ranked after the United States and China, according to a study released in December by researchers from Wetlands International and Delft Hydraulics, both based in the Netherlands.

Biofuel production is a crime against man and nature. Stop biofuel development now!