EU’s politik om biobrændstof er i modstrid med målsætningerne for udviklingspolitikken, fordi benzin lavet på fødevarer betyder højere fødevarepriser og jordtyveri, hvilket rammer de allerfattigste hårdt. Derfor bør støtten til biobrændstof stoppes, skriver OECD i ny rapport.
Følgende er udpluk fra rapporten “Better Policies for Better Lives”:
Policies that subsidise or mandate the use of biofuels should be removed
As world food prices have risen, concern has focused on policies that add to upward pressure on prices, including the diversion of land to biofuel production. There are huge uncertainties over the scale of impact that biofuels will have on overall land use.
Technological developments in biofuels, the cost and availability of fossil fuels and the policy environment are hazardous to predict.
The removal of policies that subsidise or mandate the production and consumption of biofuels that compete with food would imply that these technologies come on-stream when and where they make economic sense, and in the meantime do not jeopardise food security unnecessarily.
Righting the wrongs of EU biofuels policy
In 2009, the EU adopted the Renewable Energy Directive, setting down a 10% target for renewable energy use in transport by 2020.
While an overall focus on renewable energy is welcome, the reality is that the target is to be met almost entirely in the form of first generation biofuels (88% according to EU Member States’ plans).
It is simple economic fact that removing food from the food consumption market and diverting it into energy markets affects food prices. At a time of rising hunger, this is not tenable.
Furthermore, Europe does not have enough land to meet the targets and this is driving European companies to grab huge tracts of land in countries where it can be cheaply and easily obtained.
Land grabs and food price volatility are two clear-cut impacts of biofuels policy that are impacting the poorest and most marginalised people in the world and holding back their potential to develop.
Against this background, CONCORD members have been mobilising their supporters to create public pressure, which has finally paid off.
Læs mere og download rapporten her: http://www.oecd.org/pcd/PoliCoh_PDFforWeb_270513.pdf
