In order to manufacture biofuels for the space sector, France is requesting a waiver from EU bioenergy regulations that would allow the area of French Guiana, which is covered in forests, to receive subsidies.
The overseas department, sandwiched between Brazil and Surinam, shares little with mainland France other than its name. More than 90% of the area is covered with rainforests in the Amazon.
The waiver would enable French Guiana to access public funding for the production of biofuels, particularly for the space sector.
Local legislators contend that the exemption is required to safeguard French Guiana’s timber industry and hasten the country’s energy transition. However, activists have cautioned that the exception may serve as a catalyst for increasing cutting in Europe’s portion of the Amazon forest.
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Marine Calmet, a lawyer specialised in environmental law at NGOs Maiouri Nature Guyane and Wild Legal, said: “Thousands of hectares of Amazon forest could be cleared to be replaced with monocultures designed to produce energy… with the help of public financing.”
Authorities in French Guiana contend that the EU’s new regulations represent a threat to the territory’s plan to abandon fossil fuels, especially at the spaceport, which uses 18% of the nation’s electricity.
Despite a cap on output throughout the rest of the continent, the loophole would allow France to count the production of woody bioenergy in French Guiana towards its own renewable energy goal. France was the only EU member nation to fall short of its renewable energy goal in 2020.
Story was adapted from Climate Home News.
