Brussels, 31/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - The Greens at the European Parliament affirm that Europe's quest for a sustainable energy and climate model for Europe is going full swing but in contrast to received wisdom, biofuels are not the panacea for the environment. Even worse, the Greens consider that the massive expansion of crops for vegetable fuels represents a potential threat to poor countries' food safety.
Illustrating the dangers and raising public awareness is the objective of the campaign launched on 30 January by the Greens/EFA at the European Parliament under the slogan, “Eating or Driving, do we have to Choose? Greens Prioritise Food”. This boost was provided during the middle of the European Commission's Sustainable Energy Week.
It involves the second phase of the Greens/EFA campaign on food culture. The first phase aimed to raise awareness among the public and European decision-makers about the importance of a good policy on food. It incorporates the right of poor nations to feed themselves; it reflects sustainability and diversity in farming in which farmers, fishermen and consumers jointly assume responsibility for practising fair prices and fair trade.
During a press dinner on 30 January in Brussels, Green MEPs, who fully support renewable energies and sustainable agriculture that aims to feed the world, instead of feeding cars fuel, posed questions about bio fuels and asked, were they, “an energy, environmental and social nightmare?” Friedrich Wilhelm Graefe zu Barindorf, vice president of the parliamentary agricultural committee pointed out that “the development of renewable energies is a success story whose paternity goes back to the German Greens”. He asserted that the advantages of using wind, sun, forests and animal manure for the production of renewable energy and the reduction of CO2 emissions are undeniable. According to Graefe zu Barindorf, the problem of plant fuels can be explained by the competition they create between food and energy, eating and driving.
The Greens are critical of the fuel industry's attempt to convince farmers that their future depends on growing plant fuels for ethanol production and biodiesel. They also believe that growing plants for fuel is not a remedy against climate change. All green plants reduce C02 by transforming it into sugar and oxygen but according to current farming practices, maize, grain, palm oil and soya crops for bio fuels are entirely dependent on oil and use a lot of water. Graefe zu Barindorf warned, “the euphoria about plant fuels has served to mask the serious ethical and environmental problems that they directly cause. Plant fuels are touted publicly as the solution to the problems of oil dependence and climate change, while being quietly pushed in the EU as the way to wean Europe's farmers off CAP subsidies. However, the oft-used prefix 'bio' fools the general public into believing that plant fuels are a wholly positive development for the environment. Diverting scarce food resources from dinner tables to petrol tanks will increasingly place pressure on global food prices, meaning the poorest will go hungry."
Rebecca Harms (British Greens), spokesperson for the Greens/EFA on energy questions pointed out that biofuel production consumed enormous amounts of energy and led to the destruction of rainforests for creating arable land. She deplored the fact that in its energy strategy for Europe, presented on 10 January, the Commission did not set any sectoral objective for renewable energies, only a target of 10% for bio-fuels by 2020. She added that, “promoting an expansion of plant fuels diverts attention from the real problem: our over-consumption”. Satu Hassi, Finnish Green appealed for the setting up of environmental criteria applicable to renewable energy. She acknowledged that plant fuels had a role to play in our energy future, but pointed out that in all the scenarios studied for fighting climate change, energy efficiency is by far the best source of improvement but which had unfortunately been ignored by the Commission in its energy strategy for Europe. This warning by the Greens, at the very moment the European Commission is submitting its revised draft directive on the quality of fuels and its authorisation of up to 10% of ethanol being added to petrol (see other article), has really set the cat among the pigeons. (an)