Halt use of biofuels to ease food crisis, says green group
Governments should put a moratorium on the use of biofuels and lift bans on genetic modification of crops, a green campaigning group has urged, in the face of a growing global food crisis that threatens to engulf developing nations.
Ending the EU’s requirement for biofuels alone would free up about a fifth of the potential wheat exports from Ukraine, and even more of its maize exports, enough to make a noticeable difference to stretched food supplies, according to analysis by the campaign group RePlanet.
About 3.3m tonnes of wheat were used in 2020 as feedstock for EU biofuels, and Ukraine’s 2020 wheat exports came to about 16.4m tonnes. About 6.5m tonnes of maize was also used for EU biofuels, compared with about 24m tonnes exported from Ukraine the same year.
Supplies of wheat and maize for export from Ukraine are already under serious threat from the Russian invasion, with shipments held up and harvests damaged by the war. Food prices are rising around the world, with the war in Ukraine a key factor.
That makes it imperative for governments to stop mandating the use of biofuels, according to RePlanet, in a report entitled Switch Off Putin. Mark Lynas, a veteran environmental campaigner and a co-founder of RePlanet, said: “Europe can and must beat Putin’s global food blackmail. Just as Europe must stop buying fossil fuels from the Kremlin by saving energy, so we must also do our bit to help avoid starvation in the global south by sparing food at home.”
The EU, the US and the UK are among countries that mandate the use of biofuels, usually mixed with petrol or diesel fuel, for road vehicles.
But much of the biofuel used derives from food crops, including wheat, maize and edible oils. The World Food Programme has warned that
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