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Future of Irish bogs threatened by classification of peat as a renewable fuel

For release 4 December 2000

Future of Irish bogs threatened by classification of peat as a renewable
fuel

On the 16th of November last the European Parliament proposed an amendment
to Article 2(1) of the Council Directive on the promotion of electricity
from renewable energy resources in the internal electricity market. Their
proposal was that peat be added to the list of renewable energy sources.

This motion is to be debated as part of a green paper on energy efficiency
and renewables in Council on the 5th December.

The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) and the Irish Peatland Conservation Council
(IPCC) jointly call for the removal of peat from the list of renewables.

The extraction of peat would lead to severe erosion of a valuable natural
resource and the destruction of the biodiversity that depends on bogs,
while at the same time contributing to our greenhouse gas emissions. Peat
is not a clean and renewable energy source. IPCC, IEA, UNESCO and the EU all
classify peat as a fossil fuel source of energy.

The move to have peat included on the list of renewable energy resources is
based on the flawed assumption that peat is accumulating faster than it is
being used. "Within the European Union « where peat extraction is at its
most intense « the rate of use of peat exceeds the rate at which peat is
being deposited by a factor of 10" states Dr Peter Foss, Chairman of IPCC.

In Ireland bogs accumulate peat at a rate of just 1 mm per year. However,
the peat harvesting cycle for energy production removes peat at a rate of
10mm per cycle, and there are on average 12 cycles per year.

"A similar debate raged for some time about the renewable nature of moss
peat in the garden a few years ago." stated Dr Foss "At that time the
Eco-labeling committee of the EU Commission found that the use of moss peat
in the garden was not sustainable « and refused to give peat an eco-label.
The same argument applies in relation to the listing of peat as a renewable
fuel".

Unless you have a few thousand years to wait around for a bog to accumulate
peat it cannot be regarded as a renewable energy source on anything but a
geological time scale.

IPCC and IWT are therefore calling on the European Parliament to remove peat
from this amendment at once - there is simply no justification for the
inclusion of peat on the list of renewable energy sources.

For further details contact : Dr Peter Foss, IPCC, 119 Capel Street, Dublin
1, Ireland. Tel. +353-1-8722397

Lorraine Dufficey, IWT, 107 Baggot Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. Tel.
+353-1-6768588

E-mail: bogs@ipcc.ie Website : www.ipcc.ie
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IPCC - Action for Bogs - Ag caomhnu na bportach

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