Brussels, 12/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - Good for the environment but no more than “fair” for the food crisis. That, in just a few words, was how Greenpeace summed up, on 11 July, the vote at the EP environment committee on the draft directive on indirect land use change (ILUC) in order to cap the production of biofuels produced from food sources, take into account the impact of first generation biofuels on greenhouse gas emissions, encourage second and third generation biofuels, and limit the adverse impact of agri-fuels on developing countries (see EUROPE 10886). The NGO also urges the European Parliament to do better, when votes at the plenary session in September.
Sebastien Risso, the Greenpeace EU biofuels policy director, said: “MEPs have made great strides to safeguard against the environmental impacts of biofuels, but they have missed an opportunity to reduce the consumption of biofuels that compete with food. When MEPs come together for a final vote in the autumn, they should take a look at the evidence and turn away from harmful biofuels”.
“In the face of heavy lobbying from the biofuels industry”, denounced by the NGO after the vote, Greenpeace considers that the environment committee has set out encouraging recommendations to remedy EU biofuel policy failings, but more will be required to end the food for fuel crisis caused by land being used for the production of biofuels rather than food in developing countries. (AN/transl.jl)