The EU Parliament's Industrial Committee has restructured the EU biofuels target to account for its impact on food prices but still refuses to call for its abolition. This target must be abolished now as it serves little purpose. It raises food prices, causes greater pollution and will not be achieved.
The current EU target for increasing the use of biofuels in transport is to make it 10 per cent of fuel by 2020. This general target remains. However, the Industrial Committee has altered the interim target to 5 per cent by 2015 with 20 per cent of this to be made up of "new alternatives that do not compete with food production." This means either electricity from renewable sources, hydrogen fuel cells or biofuels that are made from algae, waste or other nonfood forms of vegetation. Therefore the commitment has been restructured – not reduced and not abolished. This is a step in the right direction but far too timid.
No Committee has the power to abolish the target on it's own. Abolition would require a debate in Parliament and the agreement of the EU members now signed up to it. However, after the report of the Parliament's Environment Committee in July we could have expected a little more. The commitment had already been watered down when in July 2008 the European Parliament's Environment Committee recommended a lower medium target of 4 per cent rather than 10 per cent and a review of the target in 2015. The time is ripe for a committee to recommend its abolition because biofuels pollute more and increase food prices for EU consumers.
Many biofuels pollute more than the forms of energy they replace. The World Land Trust an international conservation trust described the promotion of biofuels as a disaster stating that “Whilst there may be short-term economic arguments for biofuels like gasohol and biodiesel, let us not be taken in by the green-wash. For climate change and for biodiversity they are a disaster” see here. The Trust has also published an extensive report on how biofuels are set to increase emissions see here.
Growing biofuels is also acknowledged to increase food prices for European consumers. This is because they take land out of agricultural production. High food prices affect all EU citizens but the poorest most. The World Bank estimates that 75 per cent of the increase in food prices between 2002 and 2007 is due to the increase in biofuels see here. UK consumers have experienced an 8.3 per cent increase in food prices in the last 9 months according to a BBC study.
European Consumers will welcome any moves by the EU to abolish this unnecessary target which creates more pollution and increases the costs of our groceries. It would cost the EU nothing to take this step but it would benefit all EU consumers. The European Parliament must abolish this target now. This does not mean we want it restructured or reduced. We, European TaxPayers want it abolished now.
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