Calls grow for EU biofuel rethink

The influential European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is this week expected to call on the European Commission to reassess its target for ensuring 10 percent of road fuels come from biofuels by 2020.

The EESC has also signalled it will side with environmental groups in taking a “very critical stance” of the Commission’s recent biofuel progress report. The report largely praised moves to promote wider use of biofuels, but the EESC argues it has failed to adequately account for the “manifold problems” associated with wider use of biofuels such as “high production costs and storage problems for bio-diesel and high consumption of water and fertilisers, potentially causing soil destruction, for ethanol… [and] the impact of biofuels on the world market for food”.
Environmentalists have repeatedly called for a moratorium on biofuels arguing that the use of land previously used for food crops for biofuel crops such as sugar and palm oil is already leading to increased food prices and shortages. Others have argued that increased demand for palm oil will also lead to an increase in deforestation in countries such as Indonesia, undermining any reduction in carbon emissions associated with using biofuels.

The controversy has already prompted some firms to scrap plans for biofuel-powered fleets with coach company National Express recently cancelling a biofuel trial due to environmental concerns.

To help ensure that increased use of biofuels does not lead to detrimental effects on the environment the EESC is also urging the European Commission increase R&D investment in so-called second generation biofuels produced from non-food crops; introduce a mandatory certification scheme for accrediting sustainable biofuel production; and commit to revising its targets if it is proved that biofuels are leading to environmental damage.

BusinessGreen