Climate action instead of climate deception

Throughout the day, members of the environmental organization ROBIN WOOD will participate in protest actions demanding changes to the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) on the Place du Luxembourg in Brussels. Together with an international alliance of NGOs, ROBIN WOOD calls on the EU to stop subsidizing the burning wood and the use of plant-based fuels. In the morning, protestors visualized the conflict of interest between food and fuel with a dining table and a gas pump. In the afternoon, they will protest the industrial burning of wood with banners and an inflatable burning tree. On September 13th, EU MEPs will vote on an amendment to the RED.

"We urge MEPs to correct the mistakes of the current Renewable Energy Directive. Whoever burns forests fuels the climate crisis. Whoever burns food as fuel drives people into hunger. The climate and the biodiversity crises are deadly. We need effective protection for people, the environment and the climate, not sugar-coated climate accounts," says ROBIN WOOD tropical forest officer Fenna Otten.

So far, woody biomass has been classified as renewable energy throughout the EU. As a result, more than half of the wood harvested in the EU is currently being burned for energy generation. When burnt, woody biomass emits more carbon dioxide per unit of energy than fossil fuels - doing the opposite of what is needed to combat climate change. In addition, logging damages forests in Europe and in those countries that export wood pellets to the EU - with serious damage to biodiversity.

Burning biofuels for transport, just like burning woody biomass for energy, is a green sham: plant-based agrofuels emit on average 50 percent more greenhouse gases than fossil fuels. Millions of hectares of land are intensively farmed for their cultivation. Associated deforestation and ecosystem degradation further fuel the climate and biodiversity crisis. In the face of acute food shortages, world hunger worsens with every day that food is burned as fuel. Therefore, it is urgent that the blending of "organic" fuel is no longer encouraged. Foods like wheat, canola oil, and soybean oil do not belong in car tanks.

Contact:

• Fenna Otten, tropical forest adviser, Tel. +49 160 344 12 08, tropenwald [at] robinwood.de;
• Ute Bertrand, press officer, tel. +49 171 835 95 15, presse [at] robinwood.de

Hashtags: #FoodNotFuel #StopFakeRenewables #climatecrisis #notinmytank #biomassscam

Alliance action schedule: September 5-13, 2022

Brussels:

- Gas Pump / Dining Table, Sept. 6, 8 a.m.-10 a.m., Place du Luxembourg.

- Video bus, Sept. 6 and 7, 12 - 4 p.m., Place du Luxembourg

- Inflatable burning tree, September 6, 2 - 4 p.m., Place du Luxembourg

- Artificial bonfire, September 7, 12 - 1 p.m., Place du Luxembourg

- Info at train stations, Sept. 5 - 8.

Strasbourg:

- Inflatable burning tree, Sept. 12, 4:30-8 p.m., in front of the EU Parliament