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Biofuels

I thank the Secretary of State for advance notice of her statement. The Opposition have been telling the Government for months to think again on their biofuels policy. The Conservatives were the only political party to vote against the renewable transport fuel obligation. Although we believe that biofuels can have a role to play in tackling climate change, there must be safeguards to ensure that they come from sustainable sources and we must address the impact of biofuel production on land use and fuel prices. Frankly, the RTFO does neither of those things, and the statement provides only limited reassurance. The RTFO has come under sustained attack from groups such as Friends of the Earth, Oxfam, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Royal Society and the Environmental Audit Committee, and today the Government's own Gallagher report confirms that biofuel targets set by the Government could lead to unsustainable changes in land use, higher food prices and a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions. I welcome the fact that the Secretary of State has acknowledged today that there is a serious problem with her biofuels policy, but what have we actually got from her statement? We have got another consultation, and a review of the 5 per cent. target in 2011-12. I certainly welcome the slowdown that the Government have suggested they might undertake in relation to the 5 per cent. target, but a partial retreat is not enough. I repeat today the question that I asked the Secretary of State in January: will she now suspend the RTFO, in the light of the serious problems revealed by the pressure groups and confirmed in many respects by the Gallagher report? The fact is that a mere slowing down of the targets will not address the problems that are occurring today. The rain forest is under threat right now, and the habitat of orang-utans is being wiped out right now by palm oil plantations. When will the Secretary of State introduce the vital binding rules on sustainability? Why were they not in her statement to the House this afternoon? Why did she not commission and publish this report before designing the RTFO and bringing it into operation? Why did she steam ahead without carrying out a thorough investigation of the facts? Will the Secretary of State tell us how many litres of biofuel covered by the RTFO have been imported since its inception in April, and from which countries? What can she tell us about the source of those imports? Were any of them instrumental in deforestation? How many of them are made up of palm oil, a substance that Friends of the Earth says has been responsible for 87 per cent. of the recent destruction of the rain forest in Malaysia and Indonesia? Why did she introduce the RTFO before conducting a thorough assessment of the impact of the displacement of crops to areas where they could cause deforestation? When is the Secretary of State going to start publishing this kind of information and an analysis of how the RTFO is operating in practice today? How many litres of biofuels from unsustainable sources does she expect to have been imported into this country before we get real, lasting and serious reform of the RTFO? How can she possibly justify the Prime Minister's posturing about this issue on the international stage while at home she presses ahead with policies that encourage the use of biofuels that could actively damage the environment? The Gallagher report is an admission of failure by the Government. Their RTFO biofuels policy is a failure. It has failed industry and farming, because the uncertainty caused by Government dithering is jeopardising investments, not only in existing programmes but in second generation biofuels and in renewable and green technology generally. It has failed the poor of the developing world because it was introduced without safeguards to tackle the problems that are caused when biofuel crops compete with food production. It has failed the environment because it contains no effective measures to guarantee that the biofuels it promotes come from sustainable sources. The Government have made no move to address those failures today. It is deeply irresponsible to press ahead with a policy that risks driving up food prices and actively encourages people to rip up the rain forests, with the consequent loss of hugely important carbon sinks and wildlife habitats. Why will the Secretary of State not address the facts that are staring her in the face, admit that she has got her policy on biofuels seriously wrong, and suspend the operation of the RTFO?