ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the environmental and human costs renewable energy supplies in Europe pose to the poor in southern countries. As Europe, the United States and the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa continue to promote development models that rely on economic growth, which is often driven by over-consumption. The “green” credentials of some renewable energy technologies are under fire as evidence of environmental degradation and human rights abuses, associated with the raw materials that fuel them, continue to multiply. The electricity or heating generated from their use then branded as renewable and sustainable energy was sold to European consumers. The crude palm oil both companies produce is a major ingredient for biofuel, which is also promoted as renewable energy. The biomass producer Buchanan Renewables entered into an agreement with the Government of Liberia to build and power an electricity plant using wood chips from unproductive rubber trees.
