MEP
REPORT CALLS FOR 10% BIOFUEL TARGET TO BE SCRAPPED
MEP
Report Calls for 10% Biofuel Target to be Scrapped - Press Release
by AEFJN (Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network), Biofuelwatch,
Carbon Trade Watch, COAG, Corporate Europe Observatory, CPE (European
Farmers Coordination), Ecologistas en Acción (Spain), Econexus,
FIAN, GRR, the Soya Alliance and the Transnational Institute. 28 May.
Bonn, Germany, 28th May 2008. A key report from the European Parliament
has called for the EU's 10% biofuel target to be scrapped, amidst
growing evidence over the impact on wildlife, people and the world's
food supplies.
The report by the European Parliament?s
Rapporteur for the new laws on biofuels, Claude Turmes MEP, concludes
that there is ?overwhelming evidence to drop the mandatory 10 per
cent target for fuels from
renewables? [1].
Campaigners from a range of Europe-wide
organisations welcomed the proposals to scrap the target and urged
the industry and environment committees to drop the target [2].
Sofia Monsalve Suárez from
FIAN said:
"European demand for crops
for fuel is already helping push up food prices and creating a serious
food crisis in some parts of the world. Land use for agrofuels is
forcing small farmers and indigenous
peoples off their lands, causing poverty and hunger. Agrofuels will
not solve the hunger problem in the world. They will make it worse."
Anders Wijkman MEP (Sweden PPE),
who is reporting to the Environment Committee on the same legislation,
has also called for the target to be reduced, but campaigners say
his proposal of eight per cent - designed to "create a market"
- cannot be justified.
Nina Holland from Corporate Europe
Observatory said:
"An eight per cent target
will cause almost as much damage as a ten per cent target. Pushing
up food prices is causing hunger and that fact is inescapable. The
EU's targets should be dropped."
They are also concerned by some
of the other recommendations made in the draft Turmes report, including
the recommendation that large amounts of biomass are used for electricity
generation and heating.
Campaigners say they want to see
a tougher definition of "renewables", excluding agrofuels
from large scale plantations which rely on large quantities of oil-based
inputs, and which have damaging social impacts.
In parts of Latin America, cattle
farmers are being forced on to previously un-farmed areas, threatening
biodiversity in the region, and contributing to deforestation [3].
Palm oil production in Indonesia is a major cause of deforestation,
which in
turn leads to massive carbon emissions
as the forest peatlands dry out [4].
René Louail, from CPE Board:
?Agrofuel plant construction in
Europe should be stopped. The money should be instead spent on switching
production in Europe to vegetable proteins so that we no longer depend
on imports.?
EU representatives are currently
in Bonn for discussions on the Convention on Biological Diversity
where discussions are focused on how the agrofuel boom will impact
on biodiversity. Civil society
organisations present in Bonn are calling on the Parties to ban agrofuels
from industrial monocultures.
Nina Holland, Corporate Europe
Observatory + 31 630 285 042
Notes:
[1] The Turmes draft report on
the Directive on Renewable Energies
will be discussed this week by the Industry Committee
http://www.euractiv.com/en/energy/interview-mep-seeks-revamped-eu-renewables-law/article-172316
[2] Campaigners from AEFJN (Africa
Europe Faith and Justice Network), Biofuelwatch, Carbon Trade Watch,
COAG, Corporate Europe Observatory, CPE Board, Ecologistas en Acción
(Spain), Econexus, FIAN, GRR, the Soya Alliance and the Transnational
Institute are backing the call.
[3] See: http://www.corporateeurope.org/docs/soygreenwash.pdf
http://www.waronwant.org/Murders20spark20palm20oil20alert+15885.twl
[4] http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/cooking-the-climate-full
