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Don’t fly on Indonesian jatropha

Lufthansa has recently been using biokerosene made from jatropha, an inedible plant. The jatropha used for Lufthansa’s test flights comes from Indonesia. The small farmers in central Java who grow the jatropha are suffering. And flying on biokerosene isn’t good for the environment either, despite Lufthansa’s claims that it is. The Indonesian government and the Dutch company Waterland promised the sky to the farmers and agricultural workers. But the farmers haven’t gotten richer – in fact they’re poorer than ever. Therefore write Lufthansa and ask them to stop using Jatropha from the Waterland company and not to use biokerosene for commercial flights.

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Dear Mr Buse,

I am writing you in connection with the recently published report ‘Biokerosene: take-off in the wrong direction’ by Milieudefensie (the Dutch Friends of the Earth, and a sister organization of the German organisation BUND).  
 
The Milieudefensie report (in English) describes the social and ecological consequences of jatropha cultivation in the Gobrogan district of central Java, Indonesia. Small farmers there are growing jatropha, hired by firms like the Dutch company PT Waterland International. Lufthansa bought the oil made from this jatropha through the Finnish company Neste Oil and used it for test flights between Hamburg and Frankfurt. 
 
The report states that the population of the Gobrogan district have suffered adverse effects from the cultivation of jatropha for Lufthansa. Jatropha competes with food crops such as maize for land. The farmers are also losing income. The United Nations and the World Bank have also found that other crops grown for biofuels have similar effects. 
 
Milieudefensie has also identified the ecological consequences of flying on jatropha oil and other biofuels. In the media, Lufthansa emphasizes that its CO2 emissions are falling thanks to its use of biofuels such as jatropha. There is, however, a growing body of scientific evidence showing that the emissions from biokerosene are no less than those from conventional kerosene. These facts are not mentioned anywhere by Lufthansa. To put it mildly, this is too rosy a picture of the state of affairs. 
 
I’ve seen and heard through the media that Lufthansa considers the test flights with biokerosene successful, despite its harmful effects, and is planning to use biofuels on a much greater scale in the future. You have also indicated that you will continue to acquire some of the fuel for these flights from Indonesia. 
 
I am greatly concerned and therefore am asking you to do the following: 
• Be honest about the actual emissions of greenhouse gases from biokerosene. 
• Acknowledge that by growing crops used for biofuels for Lufthansa, the local population in the Gobrogan district has suffered, and compensate them for these damages. 
• Abandon commercial use of biofuels, since they are harming the climate and cutting food production. 
• Replace your objective to use more biokerosene with that of setting emission reduction objectives based on real reductions in emissions.

I await your answer.

Sincerely yours,

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More information

Lufthansa has recently been using biokerosene made from jatropha, an inedible plant. The jatropha used for Lufthansa’s test flights comes from Indonesia. The small farmers in central Java who grow the jatropha are suffering. And flying on biokerosene isn’t good for the environment either, despite Lufthansa’s claims that it is. The Indonesian government and the Dutch company Waterland promised the sky to the farmers and agricultural workers. But the farmers haven’t gotten richer – in fact they’re poorer than ever.

Write Lufthansa and ask them to stop using Jatropha from the Waterland company and not to use biokerosene for commercial flights.

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Biomass

Biofuels seemed ideal. They would lead to lower CO2 emissions and reduced dependence on oil imports from unstable or dictatorial countries. However, using biofuels will not prevent climate change and their production competes with food production.