Press release

Aviation biofuels target threatens food prices

22 June 2011

Plans by the European aviation industry announced today (Wednesday 22 June) to fuel its planes with two million tonnes of biofuels by 2020, has been slammed by Friends of the Earth.

The announcement, which follows expert warnings about the impact of biofuels on food prices and world hunger, comes as G20 ministers meet in Paris to discuss ways to tackle food price volatility.

The green campaigning charity warned that increased biofuel-use could have major social and environmental impacts and said it would distract from real action to tackle the impact of aviation on climate change.

New research by Friends of the Earth Europe shows that meeting the aviation industry's target could require three and a half million hectares of land every year to grow biofuel crops - an area the size of Belgium. It could increase land grabbing by foreign companies in developing countries where biofuels are already competing with food crops for farmland, increasing food prices, and worsening hunger.

Friends of the Earth warned that greenhouse gas emissions caused during biofuel production, through indirect land use change (the displacement of farming activity into forests), could actually increase emissions from aviation.

Friends of the Earth's biofuels campaigner Kenneth Richter said:

"Putting biofuels in our planes flies in the face of expert warnings about the impact these crops have on people and the environment.

"Our insatiable drive for biofuels is already causing brutal land grabs, trashing rainforests and sending global food prices soaring - using them in planes will make matters worse and could actually increase carbon emissions from aviation.

"We can't rely on technological fixes to cut emissions quickly - what we urgently need is bold international action to tackle climate change and protect the world's most vulnerable people.

"The UK Government should scrap its support for biofuels and take active steps to cut aviation emissions, such as ruling out future airport expansion and replacing air passenger duty with a per plane tax to help ensure planes fly full."

G20 agriculture Ministers are meeting today in Paris to discuss a recent report by the World Bank, IMF and other international organisations which recommends that policies supporting biofuels be scrapped because of their impact on food prices and world poverty. It comes in the same week as the Paris air show - the biggest aviation event of the year.

ENDS

Notes to editor

1. Press release by Airbus, detailing today's announcement on the industry target.: 

2. KLM and Virgin Atlantic have already carried out test flights with various blends of biofuel, and Lufthansa launches its first commercial flight this year.

3. A Friends of the Earth Europe briefing 'Flying in the face of facts: Greenwashing the aviation industry with biofuels', revealing the likely environmental impacts of the aviation industry's target.

4. A recent report by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) found that biofuels can produce up to 167 per cent more greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels once indirect land use change (ILUC) emissions have been accounted for. 

5. The FAO, IFAD, IMF, OECD, UNCTAD, WFP, the World Bank and the WTO's policy paper "Price Volatility in Food and Agricultural Markets: Policy Responses", published in May 2011, contains the following "Recommendation 6: G20 governments remove provisions of current national policies that subsidise (or mandate) biofuels production or consumption".  It was reported in the Financial Times, 9 June 2011: "Report urges end to G20 biofuel subsidies"

6. In September 2010 Friends of the Earth launched 'Up for Grabs', a report showing that the scale of land grabbing in Africa for biofuel production was underestimated and completely out of control. A week later a report by the World Bank report explicitly identified biofuels as one of the driving forces of land grabs in Africa, having detrimental impacts on people's livelihoods.

7. Friends of the Earth is calling on the UK government to scrap its biofuel target and invest in greener transport alternatives to flying and driving cars, such as better public transport. The green campaigning charity is urging MPs to sign Early Day Motion 1916, which calls on the Government to freeze biofuel use in transport fuels at the current level of 3.3 per cent, and until the sustainability of biofuels can be assured, to develop policy measures that focus on reducing energy demand, including electric cars using electricity from renewable energy. 

 

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust