Ms Karen Ciesielski:

To address Deputy Crowe's question on biomass, there is lots of talk about biomass and biomethane as renewable fuel sources in Europe. There is certainly the development of a biomethane strategy here domestically, but we need to proceed with caution, zoom out and look at sustainable land use as a whole. We need renewable energy, but if we were to throw the baby out with the bathwater and start building up these enormous plants of biomass and biofuel, I am not sure this would help us. Some of the risks include air pollution, water pollution and carbon emissions.