US, EU must cut biofuels
2008-05-05 22:07
Brussels - The United States and Europe
should cut back on production of biofuels because they are
hurting food supply at a time of rising prices, an adviser to
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday.
Biofuels derived from crops have come under attack in recent
weeks on fears they compete with food for farming land and help
to push up food prices, worsening a global crisis that is
affecting millions of poor.
"We need to cut back significantly on our biofuels
programmes," said Jeffrey Sachs, a prominent US academic who
is a special adviser to Ban on anti-poverty goals.
"(They) were understandable at a time of much lower food
prices and larger food stocks but do not make sense now in a
global food scarcity condition," Sachs told a news conference.
High food and fuel prices have sparked protests and riots in
poor countries across the world in the past few months. Many
governments have introduced food subsidies or export
restrictions to counter rising costs.
"In the United States as much as one third of maize crop
this year will go to gas tank. This is a huge blow to the world
food supply," Sachs said before talks in Brussels with EU
lawmakers.
EU leaders pledged last year to increase the proportion of
biofuels used in petrol- and diesel-consuming land transport to
10% by 2020 as part of measures to tackle climate change.
Governments are now working on draft EU laws.
Faced with growing unease among EU states over food prices
and the biofuels' green credentials, the European Commission has
stuck to the target, but EU Environment Commissioner Stavros
Dimas said last month it would be subject to strict conditions
to prevent social harm.
The United States is the world's biggest producer of
biofuels. The fuels are made from crops like corn, wheat, sugar
and palm oil, which refiners turn into ethanol or oil to replace
gasoline and diesel.
Supporters say they are the only renewable alternative to
fossil fuels and generally result in lower greenhouse gas
emissions.