Written question asked by James Paice (Conservative) on Thursday, 23 November 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 27 November 2006. It was answered by Ian Pearson (Labour) on Monday, 4 December 2006 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Biofuels

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what assessment his Department has made of the environmental impact of importing biofuels;

Answer: The environmental sustainability of production is one of the Government's key priorities for biofuel development. That is why the Government are developing an environmental assurance scheme as an integral part of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). This will require all obligated companies to report on the greenhouse gas balance and wider environmental impacts of their biofuels. The reports will include details of the previous use of the land on which the biofuel feedstocks were grown, and the impacts on biodiversity of growing those feedstocks. This will encourage companies to supply biofuels which deliver the maximum greenhouse gas savings with the minimum environmental impact. It will also ensure that we can monitor the impact of both imported and domestically-sourced biofuels.The Government will be looking to move to a system that allows only biofuels which meet certain minimum sustainability standards to benefit from the RTFO. This will involve developing a verifiable and robust system that is compatible with World Trade Organisation requirements on barriers to trade.

Secondary information