Biofuel policy ‘lacks transparency’

NGOs attack Commission for obscuring details and say meeting did not meet openness standards.

Environmental groups have accused the European Commission of obfuscation and a lack of transparency in its biofuel policy.

In a hard-hitting letter sent to senior officials, five environmental groups argue that the Commission has broken the letter and spirit of EU rules on “open, transparent and regular dialogue” with civil society.

“We are worried that a pattern of scientific obfuscation and intransparent working is emerging within the Commission regarding the impact of the European Union’s biofuel policies,” John Hontelez, the secretary-general of the European Environmental Bureau, wrote to the heads of the Commission’s secretariat-general, departments for energy and climate action. The groups Client Earth, Birdlife International, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace also signed the letter.

The letter is the latest salvo in a row over the EU’s biofuel policy, amid mounting scientific uncertainty about the benefits to the climate of some biofuels. Under EU law, the Commission is required to carry out a public consultation on indirect land-use change. This is to ascertain whether EU biofuel policy could inadvertently create more greenhouse-gas emissions than it saves.

According to the green groups, a consultation meeting on 17 September in Brussels “failed to meet what we regard as the most basic principle of public participation in policymaking…to take the stakeholders seriously” and was in violation of the Lisbon treaty.

Among their complaints are that the Commission refused to allow open discussion and limited contributions to five-minute statements, meaning that the meeting, which was scheduled for six hours, ended after barely two hours. The non-governmental organisations say that the meeting organisers refused to allow scientists from the Commission’s in-house scientific advice service to present a report. Three experts from the Joint Research Centre (JRC) had travelled from Ispra in Italy to take part in the meeting, but were not allowed to discuss a report by the JRC on the impact of biofuel on land use.

According to the report, released on the same day as the meeting, a modest increase in biofuel could release between 200 million and one billion tonnes of greenhouse gases through indirect land-use change effects.

‘Stakeholders only’

The NGOs also complain that certain participants were excluded from the meeting. Tim Grabiel, a lawyer at Client Earth, who is taking the Commission to court over its failure to release documents on its biofuel policy, was told he could not attend because he was “not a stakeholder”.

Grabiel managed to attend the meeting as a representative of another organisation. The meeting was also closed to journalists.

A spokesman for Maroš Šefc?ovic?, the European commissioner for inter-institutional relations and administration, said: “There are no fixed rules about access to public consultation, but participants may decide who they want to attend on a case-by-case basis.”

The NGOs’ complaint is the latest in a string of allegations over how the Commission manages its biofuel policy. Two of the groups that signed the letter are suing the Commission in the EU’s General Court for failure to release documents.

A spokeswoman for Günther Oettinger, the European commissioner for energy, said: “The purpose of the [17 September] meeting was to hear stakeholders’ views on four published pieces of work. During the meeting reference was made to a new report prepared by the JRC. As this had not been available before the meeting stakeholders were not expected to make comments thereon.

“Stakeholders can however choose to submit comments on this (as on any other relevant document) before the end of the consultation process on 31 October.”

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