Energy: EU deception on biofuels

Dr Richard North
"....But all this misses the real story, which Booker and I highlighted in July 2008, when it was already known that the biofuels target was extremely damaging. Then, more than four years ago, a United Nations official was describing the rush for biofuels as a "a crime against humanity", while the British Government, published a review urging a slowdown in the move to biofuels. A key recommendation of this Gallagher Report, however, was that, beyond five percent, biofuel after 2013-14 should only be agreed by governments if the fuels were demonstrated as sustainable, including avoiding indirect effects such as change in land use. Thus, right on cue, the EU commission is about to propose precisely that which was suggested those four years ago, dressing it up as a response to the current Oxfam report. The 10 percent target for 2020, agreed in 2007, is to remain, and the amount of land given over to biofuels (much of it in developing countries) is not to be reduced. To call this "smoke and mirrors" would be too restrained. This is government by deception."