Biofuels not an obligation, say EU ministers 

Meeting for three days of informal talks, EU environment and energy ministers concluded that Commission legislative proposals aimed at raising the share of biofuels in transport to 10% by 2020 had been misinterpreted and are in fact not limited to biofuels but to renewables in general. 

"The member states realised that the Commission's plan specifies that 10% of transport needs must come from renewable energy, not 10% from biofuels," French Energy and Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said after the meeting, adding that hydrogen or electricity power sources could also be counted towards the target. 

Such a re-interpretation could help European leaders to shift away from what has become a somewhat embarrassing commitment to promote increased biofuel production, now that numerous studies have shown them to be responsible for intolerable rises in food prices, mass deforestation and water shortages.

The latest in the long line of reports – a study by the World Bank leaked to the Guardian newspaper on 4 July – concludes that biofuels are already responsible for a 75% rise in food prices.

And, although the figure is strongly contested by official EU and US government reports, which put the figure at less than 5%, the pressure is on the EU to revise its policy on biofuels. 

"We have to decide if the quota can be kept," said German State Secretary Jochen Homann. "It might be changed," he added, although no official policy change has been proposed and the Commission is sticking to its original target. 

Nonetheless, certain options are being eyed to ensure that biofuel production will be sustainable. According to Borloo, there was broad support among ministers for a suggestion by Green MEP Claude Turmes to conclude a bilateral deal with Brazil – the world's largest ethanol producer – on biofuel trade. 

According to Turmes, who is Parliament's rapporteur on the Commission's draft Renewables Directive, Brazil is currently the only country capable of providing the substantial quantities of agro-fuels that Europe needs in a sustainable manner. 

A draft European Environment Agency report, due to published in September and seen by Reuters, goes in the same direction, showing that, through domestic production alone, the EU will not be capable of raising the share of biofuels in transport to any more than 3.4% in a cost-effective and sustainable scenario. 

Turmes wants an agreement with Brazil to "be a test case, with tough criteria both on sustainability and social issues," he told Reuters. But in the meantime, EU member states have so far shown themselves to be unable to come to any kind of agreement on the core criteria defining the sustainability of biofuels (EurActiv 04/06/08).