Press release
EC's biofuel proposals are watered down
17 October 2012
Responding today (Wednesday 17 October 2012) to the European Commission's watered down proposals to reduce the indirect climate impact of biofuels, Friends of the Earth Biofuels campaigner Kenneth Richter said:
"This is a complete farce - Europe's biofuels policy will continue to undermine efforts to tackle climate change.
"Some of the crop-based biofuels used in Europe cause more climate-changing emissions than the petrol and diesel they are meant to replace - why haven't the Commission taken action to tackle this?
"The European Parliament must now step in and put an end to a biofuels policy that damages the environment and causes food prices to soar."
Responding to the EC's decision to limit the use of crop-based biofuels to five per cent of total EU transport energy demand by 2020, instead of increasing it to 10 per cent by the end of the decade as originally planned, Kenneth Richter said:
"While we are relieved that the EC has decided against increasing the amount of biofuels that have to be used in our petrol, the best option would be to scrap the target altogether."
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. Please see the European Commission's proposal for biofuels here.
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Oct 2012
