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The British government has said it would slow the introduction
of biofuels to address concerns that switching the use of land
could exacerbate climate change and push up food prices.
The government accepted the conclusions of a report it commissioned
from Ed Gallagher, chair of the Renewable Fuels Agency, which
called for a more cautious approach until more evidence was
available.
"The Gallagher report ... concludes that the introduction of
biofuels should be slowed until policies are in place to direct
biofuel production onto marginal or idle land, and that these are
demonstrated to be effective," Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly told
parliament.
"In short, the report concludes that the government should amend
but not abandon its biofuel policy," she added. "I agree with these
key findings."
Biofuels are mainly produced from food crops such as wheat, maize,
sugar cane and vegetable oils and are seen as a way to cut
greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
Critics say diverting land from food crops to produce biofuels has
helped push up global food prices and in some cases has led to the
destruction of rain forests.
The European Union's proposal to get 10% of road transport fuels
from renewable sources, such as biofuels, by 2020 has faced growing
criticism.
"This review sends a stark message - using food crops to fuel our
cars risks making climate change worse and increasing food prices
for the world's poorest people," said Doug Parr, chief scientist of
environmental group Greenpeace.
"Gordon Brown must now follow one of the key recommendations of his
own report and call for an end to the EU's hastily adopted and
potentially damaging biofuel targets."
Clare Wenner, head of biofuels for the Renewable Energy
Association, said the measures would create a difficult environment
for biofuels investors.
"The slowdown is disappointing but when you couple that with yet
more reviews, yet more conditions ... it makes the whole
environment very difficult," she said. "My big fear is that
investors in this country will walk."
The report coincided with a summit of the Group of Eight rich
nations in Japan where food prices were high on the
agenda.
New research
"Over the last 12 months, new research has identified that land use
change causes significant greenhouse gas emissions, sufficient in
many cases to overcome the savings from biofuels for several
years," Gallagher told Reuters in an interview.
"When we look at that research, we've concluded we need controls in
place to make sure those adverse effects don't happen and we need a
slow down in the anticipated rate of biofuels growth to get those
controls in place."
The current requirement in Britain is that 2.5% of fuel supplied
for road transport should be from renewable sources, rising to 5%
in 2010/11, a rate of increase of 1.25% a year.
Gallagher recommended the rate of growth should slow to 0.5% a
year, only rising to 5.0% in 2013/14, with further expansion only
if biofuels are demonstrably sustainable.
The review said current policies, if left unchecked, could lead to
higher food prices and increase poverty. In India, for example, it
estimated an extra 10.7 million people would drop below the poverty
line due to biofuels.
"Our view is in the short term it (the impact on food prices) is
significant, in the long term not quite as significant," Gallagher
said.
