The Union of Concerned Scientists is helping organize a letter on indirect land use and biofuels. It is a national letter that calls for California to account for biofuel pollution from land use change and other major sources of emissions in the state's proposed Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS). The deadline for signatures is April 15, 2009. You can read the letter and sign on at http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/what_you_can_do/scientists-letter-iLUC.html. While the letter explicitly addresses the California regulation, we are confident it will also be relevant to the ongoing Federal rule-making process for the Renewable Fuel Standard.
If done right, the California low carbon fuel standard will reduce global warming pollution from transportation fuels and spur a whole new generation of cleaner fuels. But the standard needs to account for all major sources of global warming pollution to be effective. Land use change that occurs indirectly as agricultural land expands to accommodate biofuel feedstocks is a major category of biofuel pollution. Increased demand for biofuels pushes up commodity prices, which can induce farmers around the world to convert lands into agriculture. Some industries, however, have suggested that these indirect land use change emissions should be excluded from the LCFS. Several leading scientists have joined in an appeal to their colleagues to speak in a unified voice on the urgent need for the standard to account for all major sources of emissions from biofuels. If you go to the URL below you can review the details and sign on: http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/what_you_can_do/scientists-letter-iLUC.html The Call to action on Biofuels and Land Use Change is open nationally to Ph.D. professionals at universities and research institutions, who have expertise relevant to the scientific and economic dimensions of climate change or of land use change, including research related to biofuels, agriculture, forestry, and land use patterns. Please join me in supporting this effort. Sincerely, Jeremy I. Martin, Ph.D. Senior Scientist Clean Vehicles Group Union of Concerned Scientists 1825 K Street NW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20006-1232 202-331-6946
