Est. 2min 14-04-2008 (updated: 28-05-2012 ) Cellulosic-ethanol biofuel [Shutterstock] Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>> Languages: Français | DeutschPrint Email Facebook X LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram The EU must suspend its target of raising the share of biofuels in transport to 10% until a more comprehensive scientific study on their environmental risks is carried out, the European Environment Agency has said. The warning came as the World Bank joined the chorus of criticism against increased biofuel production. In an opinion made public on 10 April, the Agency’s Scientific Committee stressed that the EU’s mandatory biofuel quota of 10% is an “overambitious […] experiment, whose unintended effects are difficult to predict and difficult to control”. It therefore “recommends suspending the 10% goal” until a “new, comprehensive scientific study on the environmental risks and benefits of biofuels” is carried out, with the aim of setting “a new and more moderate long-term target”. The EEA report finds that biofuel production for vehicles based on first-generation technologies – produced from food and feed crops – “does not optimally use biomass resources with regard to fossil energy saving and to greenhouse gas reduction”. While it says technologies for direct heat and electricity generation should be preferred because they are more competitive and environmentally effective, it insists that any biomass utilisation must go hand in hand with energy efficiency improvements. “This is not yet the case for the majority of applications in the automotive and residential sectors,” it underlines. The Committee also warns that the amount of land required to meet the 10% target exceeds that available in the EU without harming the environment. While imports can help, it points to the “accelerated destruction of rain forests” that can already be witnessed in some developing countries due to increased biofuel production. Read more with Euractiv EU states agree to cabotage, backtrack on sea safety EU transport ministers have rejected Commission proposals to tighten the bloc's protection against maritime pollution. But they came closer to a deal on the controversial opening up of haulage and coach services to increased competition. Subscribe now to our newsletter EU Elections Decoded Email Address * Politics Newsletters PositionsThe damning opinion comes one day after the publication of a new report by the World Bank, which suggests that biofuel production has played a key role in pushing global food prices up by 83% over the three years. "Most scenarios of increased use of biofuels imply substantial trade-offs with food prices," cautions the study. It also blames higher energy and fertilizer prices, a weak dollar and export bans for the recent food price hikes that have sparked outbreaks of violence in a number of developing countries in the past weeks. Speaking at a press briefing ahead of the annual spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington DC on 13 April, World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick commented: "While many are worrying about filling their gas tanks, many others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs, and it is getting more and more difficult every day." At the meeting, he called for a "New Deal for Global Food Policy" to help tackle hunger and malnutrition, but also to examine the interconnections between food supply and energy and climate change. France is also pushing its EU partners to respond by putting agriculture back at the top of the bloc's agenda. French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier said he will use a meeting of EU Agriculture Ministers today (14 April) to come up with a "European initiative on food security" throughout the world. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also stated that he wants the issue of high food prices and the link to biofuel production to be on the agenda of the G8 summit of industrialised nations that will take place in Hokkaido, Japan in July. But biofuel producers in Europe lament the fact that the debate has become "so emotional and irrational". Rob Vierhout, secretary general of the European Bioethanol Fuel Association (eBio), insists that existing scientific assessments show the 10% target to be "absolutely manageable" without unsustainable pressure being put on soil, water and biodiversity, even if it is entirely based on domestic production. "The EEA's scientific committee has come up with no new evidence," he stressed. He warned against dropping the 10% target, saying this would simply shift the EU away from biofuel use while countries like the US and Brazil, which do not necessarily produce to the standards envisaged by the EU in its sustainability criteria, continue their production. He further stressed that while increased biofuels production "of course does have an impact on food prices," the current hikes "did not come around because of biofuels". Rather, he pointed to the change in lifestyle of hundreds of millions of people in China and India and bad weather as the main causes. "There is no point in singling out biofuels as the source of all evil. Stopping biofuels would only have a very marginal impact," he told EURACTIV, noting that the World Bank itself had a "long history of destroying African agriculture" through bad diagnostics and advice. The European Commission's environment spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich also told EURACTIV that the Commission continues to believe the 10% target is achievable, but stressed that this will be done "alongside the sustainability criteria and the promotion of second generation biofuels". She refuted the idea that the EU could be heading towards a retreat on its biofuels policy, saying EU leaders had "reaffirmed the target" at the last summit (EURACTIV 14/03/08). Background In March 2007, EU leaders committed to raising the share of biofuels in transport from current levels of around 2% to 10% by 2020, following growing concerns over rising oil prices, energy security and climate change. The goal was then translated into legal proposals, presented on 23 January 2008 by the Commission, as part of a broader Directive on renewable energies. The draft directive introduces a range of "sustainability criteria" for biofuels to counter growing concerns about the risks related to their mass production, including deforestation, hikes in food prices and water shortages. Further ReadingInternational Organisations World Bank:Remarks by World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick at the IMF/WB Spring Meetings 2008(13 April 2008) World Bank (press release):Food Price Surge Could Mean ‘7 Lost Years’ in Poverty Fight, Zoellick Says(9 April 2008) World Bank (report):Rising food prices: Policy options and World Bank response(9 April 2008) EU Actors positions European Environment Agency (EEA):Suspend 10 percent biofuels target, says EEA's scientific advisory body(10 April 2008)
