| April 21, 2009 |  |
Scientists, Economists Urge California to Accurately Account for Fuel Pollution
Peer-Reviewed Science Indicates Link Between Biofuel Production and Deforestation, Other Land Use Change
BERKELEY (April 21, 2009) – More than 170 scientists and economists sent a letter (pdf) today to California Air Resources Board (CARB) Chairman Mary Nichols urging the board to account for biofuel pollution from indirect land use change—as well as from other major fuel emissions sources—under the state's proposed low carbon fuel standard (LCFS). Nearly all the 177 signers are independent experts in fields that directly relate to the issue, including climate, land use and economics. The signatories include nine members of the National Academies of Science and two Nobel laureates.
On Thursday, April 23, the board will vote on an LCFS, which would require gasoline and diesel fuel suppliers to reduce heat-trapping emissions from their fuels 10 percent by 2020.
In their letter, the scientists and economists pointed out that "[r]ecent peer-reviewed research indicates that conventional biofuels can directly or indirectly result in substantial heat-trapping emissions through the conversion of forests and grasslands to croplands to accommodate biofuel production."
How does that happen? Shifting U.S. food crops to biofuel production triggers indirect land use emissions by reducing the supply of a specific food crop and driving up market prices. That jump in food crop price gives farmers in other countries the incentive to clear land to produce replacement crops. When those farmers clear tropical forests for farm land, or till previously untouched land, they release more heat-trapping emissions into the atmosphere. (More information on indirect land-use is available on the UCS Web site (pdf).)
The new standard will not be successful unless it accounts for indirect land use emissions from biofuels, the scientists and economists concluded. "To spur innovation in low carbon fuels, the LCFS must send an accurate signal to the growing clean energy market," their letter states. "Strategic investment decisions should be based upon the best available data of the carbon footprint of alternative fuels. Failure to include a major source of pollution, like indirect land use emissions, will distort the carbon market, suppress investment in truly low carbon fuels, and ultimately result in higher emissions."
The letter's authors include Pam Matson, dean of Earth Sciences at Stanford University; Michael Hanemann, professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of California Berkeley; Stuart Pimm, professor of ecology at Duke University; William Schlesinger, president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York; and Peter Frumhoff, director of science and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and a lead author for the Nobel Prize-winning U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. UCS helped organize the letter.
The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet's most pressing problems. Joining with citizens across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future.
