In an effort to offset dwindling natural resources and climate change, more land is currently being devoted to the cultivation of agro-energy resources such as sugar cane, palm oil, soy and maize. However, in the developing countries this often goes hand in hand with environmental destruction, land concentration, human rights abuses and increased poverty.

In many countries there is no land use planning or regulation, and the local population has no involvement in decision-making. While combined heat and power (CHP) systems in Germany increasingly utilise imported palm oil, and petrol stations offer “bioethanol”, the price of these fuels is the loss of arable land for growing food in the countries of origin.

Quantities of “biofuels” are finite, too
Germany is currently developing social and ecological sustainability criteria for the certification and importation of “biofuels”. MISEREOR strongly urges that the cultivation of energy crops should not compete with food production, lead to human rights abuses or accelerate the destruction of ecosystems and human habitats. Under present cultivation conditions in Colombia, Indonesia and Brazil, for example, it is scarcely possible to guarantee compliance with any standards. The problems with energy production clearly show that it would be unsustainable to substitute fossil fuels with “biofuels” on a one to one basis, because there is not enough productive agricultural land.

Instead, the path to sustainability must be paved primarily by a transformation of energy systems and a reduction in our energy consumption. Biomass can make a valuable contribution to a sustainable energy supply, but plants and liquid manure should not be converted to other fuels at considerable cost. Instead, they should be utilised in their most energy-efficient form in decentralised facilities located near the point of use.