EU signals possible retreat on biofuels[fr][de] 

While no decision was taken at this year's summit, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said: "We're not excluding the possibility that we'll have to amend or revise our goals." 

The target of raising the share of biofuels in transport from current levels of 2% to 10% by 2020 was agreed this time last year by EU leaders themselves. It was initially considered a good means of incentivising governments and industry to invest in biofuels, in order to reduce Europe's dependency on imported oil and contribute to the fight against climate change.

Yet a plethora of studies and impact assessments produced by various sources in the past year have raised the alarm, namely that increasing biofuel production to these levels based on current technologies – which mainly involve transforming food and feed crops into fuels – could have more negative consequences for the environment than positive ones. 

Among others, the concern is that the agricultural sector would be deprived of the arable land it needs to meet rising food demand at a time when global warming is already causing desertification in many areas. 

What's more, many question biofuels' ability to deliver any significant greenhouse gas emission cuts compared to conventional fuels (see EurActiv 18/01/08; 11/12/07; 11/09/07; 27/07/07).

The announcement that the 10% target could be revised is a clear sign that member states are starting to take these warnings seriously.

"We don't have any clear answers," said Slovenia's Janez Jansa, adding: "Quite certainly there will be more analysis." 

According to France's Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet, "it will belong to the French Presidency to see where we go on this but there is no definite position for the moment". On the 10% target, he added: "A review has not been excluded."

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi was among those voicing doubts about the target, saying a shift to biofuels would divert land from food production. 

However, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the EU "should stick to the target" but "should look into cleaner second generation biofuels," made from 'woody' materials which do not compete with food production, such as leaves, tree bark or straw. 

In any case, the European Commission  is likely to resist any move to amend the target, which it feels is essential to reducing both the transport sector's dependence on oil and its impact on the environment.

It believes that the inclusion of "sustainablility criteria" in legislation will suffice to ensure that only "good" biofuels – which enable significant CO2 savings compared to fossil fuels and do not menace biodiversity – are used. 

"I know that various objections have been raised, and the Commission takes them seriously. But we believe we can answer them," said Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boël on 13 March. She further commented: "Price increases are not always a bad thing. European farmers have been waiting for prices to stop declining in real terms for two decades or more! And higher prices can be good news for the between 70-80% of the world's poorest people who live in rural areas and rely on farming for their livelihood."