Responding to the Government commissioned Gallagher Review into the indirect impacts of biofuels, published today (7 July 2008), Friends of the Earth warned Ministers against tinkering at the margins and urged the Government to reconsider its biofuels obligation altogether.

Friends of the Earth biofuels campaigner Kenneth Richter said:

"Feeding cars instead of people pushes up food prices and fuels deforestation.

"If we want to quit our expensive and damaging fossil fuel habit we need a new direction in transport - not a quick fix from biofuels.

"Instead of chasing the pipe dream of alternative fuels, the Government must ditch these targets and start helping Britons save petrol and cut emissions now."

Notes

The Gallagher review has confirmed that the pressure to clear new land for biofuel production is likely lead to an overall increase in greenhouse gas emissions rather than a reduction. But Friends of the Earth believes the recommendations fall short of the findings. Lowering the EU target to 8 per cent, as Gallagher suggests, will not put a brake on food price rises or halt rainforest destruction. Friends of the Earth is calling on the EU to scrap its target for 10 per cent of all road transport fuel to come from biofuels and strengthen fuel efficiency standards in new vehicles instead.

The report's release coincides with a vote today (7 July 2008) in Strasbourg on biofuel targets by the Environment Committee of the European Parliament, which is currently debating a proposal to force all EU countries to use at least 10 per cent renewable energy sources, mostly biofuels, in transport by 2020.

There has been an 82 percent rise in food commodity prices since 2006. Last Friday a leaked report from the World Bank put the blame for 75 per cent of the global food price rises on biofuels. The study, produced by Don Mitchell a senior economist at the institution, analysed food price rises between 2002 and February 2008. It reportedly found that biofuels policies had caused prices to rise in three ways - by diverting grain from food to fuel; by encouraging farmers to set aside land for biofuel production; and through speculation in grains.

A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in September 2007 also questioned whether second generation biofuels would become economically viable before 2017, if ever. OECD: Biofuels is the cure worse than the disease? Sep 2007

There are increasing calls for Government caution on biofuels, The King Review of Low Carbon Cars, commissioned by the UK Government and published on 12 March 2008, urged the EU to shift the focus of its policy from biofuels to cleaner automotive technology. It also recommended adopting a target of 100 grammes of carbon dioxide emissions for each kilometre a car travels. Friends of the Earth is calling for European governments to go even further and make vehicle manufacturers double the average fuel efficiency on new cars by 2020 - something supported by the vast majority of the public according to research we published in April. New cars sold in the UK in 2007 emitted 164.9 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilometre (g/km CO2). The latest figures for the EU as a whole showed that average emissions of new cars sold in 2006 were 160g.km CO2. Doubling average fuel efficiency would reduce average emissions to 80g/km CO2.

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