EU scientists join calls to halt biofuel drive amid food pressures

SCIENTISTS from the European Environment Agency have called for a halt to plans to increase the share of biofuels used in transport, to which EU leaders have committed themselves.

They are the latest to voice concern that biofuels are responsible for a huge escalation in the price of food, especially in poor countries and are in fact adding to global warming.

The scientists, who provide advice to the EU’s environment agency, said: “The overambitious 10% biofuel target is an experiment, whose unintended effects are difficult to predict and control.”

As a result the scientists say the 10% target should be suspended and a study on the environmental risks and benefits of biofuels be carried out.

They point out that biofuels available do not cut back on greenhouse gases sufficiently compared to fossil fuels. There is not sufficient land in the EU to produce enough bioenergy without harming the union’s environment.

At the same time the need to import such fuels is accelerating the destruction of rain forests, which is increasing the risk of global warming.

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas admitted in a BBC interview that the EU underestimated the danger to rainforests and the danger of forcing up food prices when setting the binding target for biofuel use.

The 10% target was agreed subject to it being sustainable but he told Reuters yesterday that sustainability “must address both environmental and social concerns in order to be able to help us protect the environment and respect social justice”.

Rainforests are being cleared to grow crops while food is being diverted to feed the growing demand for biofuels made from corn, wheat, palm oil and sugar beet.

A panel of EU experts are working to define what is acceptable sustainability criteria for biofuels and is due to report on May 7.

A World Bank report recently blamed biofuel production for increasing feedstock prices and rising food costs — up 83% in the past three years.

World Bank president Robert Zoellick said spiralling food costs could push 100 million people deeper into poverty while the UN Special Rapporteur for the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, said this week that producing biofuels was a crime against humanity because of its impact on food prices.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has said she wants to scrap EU subsidies for biofuels that cost the union about €90 million a year.

Meanwhile Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs told the European Nuclear Assembly in Brussels that nuclear energy has a role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing energy.

But, he said, safety concerns, the issue of nuclear waste and transparency surrounding the industry must be addressed to win around the public to accepting nuclear plants.