EU Parliament for 5.5% cap on Food Based Biofuels, Sea Weeds Share 2% by 2020

The European Parliament’s environment committee has approved draft legal measures that would cap the share of food-based biofuel used in vehicles at 5.5 percent, ahead of a plenary vote in September.

The committee’s vote last Thursday is the latest attempt to ensure that support for biofuels does not indirectly enhance greenhouse gas emissions, through deforestation resulting from the extension of farmland.

First generation biofuels - sugar, cereals, or oilseeds - were originally set to be limited at five percent of total energy consumption by 2020, under plans first tabled by the European Commission. As well as raising this ceiling to 5.5 percent, the draft measures approved by the environment committee would also require “advanced” biofuels - from sources such as seaweed or certain waste products - to account for no less than two percent of consumption by the same date.

Marc Olivier Herman, Oxfam’s EU biofuels expert, suggested that support to biofuels should be phased out, arguing that food production for energy has proven to fuel “hunger and land grabs in poor countries.” He called on MEPs to resist pressure to weaken current proposals before the September plenary vote.