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Revised European Union renewable-energy policies erode nature protection

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 2, pages 1519–1520 (2018)Cite this article

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To the Editor — Bioenergy production can negatively impact biodiversity1,2. Unfortunately, the recast of the European Renewable Energy Directive (RED) erodes existing biodiversity protections through insufficient safeguards to prevent the unsustainable sourcing of bioenergy.

The proposed revision, named RED II (ref. 5), is extended to all bioenergy types in all energy sectors, and distinguishes agricultural and forestry production (Fig. 1). Under these revisions, land-use change requirements would apply only to agriculture (Art. 26.2–26.4), and no longer to forestry. Instead, new ‘sustainable’ forestry-management rules with few biodiversity safeguards have been added, meaning that bioenergy produced from biomass harvested in primary forests, in high-biodiversity non-primary forests, and in forests on peatlands, could now be sold legally as sustainable bioenergy in Europe.

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Fig. 1: Erosion of biodiversity protection.

References

  1. Bouget, C., Lassauce, A. & Jonsell, M. Can. J. Forest Res. 42, 1421–1432 (2012).

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  2. Immerzeel, D. J., Verweij, P. A., van der Hilst, F. & Faaij, A. P. C. Glob. Change Biol. Bioenergy 6, 183–209 (2014).

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  3. European Commission OJEU L 140, 16–62 (2009).

  4. European Parliament OJEU L 239, 1–29 (2015).

  5. Interinstitutional File 2016/0382 (COD), 10308/18 (European Council, Brussels, 2018).

  6. Hennenberg, K., Böttcher, H., Fehrenbach, H. & Bischoff, M. Short Analysis of the RED 2009, the iLUC Directive 2015 and the 2016 RED Proposal Regarding Implications for Nature Protection (Öko-Institut, Berlin, 2017).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Öko-Institut e.V., Darmstadt, Germany

    Klaus Josef Hennenberg & Hannes Böttcher

  2. Global Ecology, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Corey J. A. Bradshaw

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  1. Klaus Josef Hennenberg
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  2. Hannes Böttcher
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  3. Corey J. A. Bradshaw
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Correspondence to Klaus Josef Hennenberg.

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Hennenberg, K.J., Böttcher, H. & Bradshaw, C.J.A. Revised European Union renewable-energy policies erode nature protection. Nat Ecol Evol 2, 1519–1520 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0659-3

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