Europes biofuels policies are making climate change worse

The international aid organisations, Oxfam, warned Monday that Europes growing appetite for biofuels is pushing up global food prices and driving people off their land, resulting in deeper hunger and malnutrition in poor countries. Corn and soy prices reached record highs this summer, hitting poor people hardest as they can spend up to 75 percent of their income on food. By 2020, EU biofuel mandates alone could push up the price of some foods by as much as 36, said Oxfam in a report titled "Hunger Grains". The report comes out as EU Energy Ministers meet in Cyprus today to discuss Europes post 2020 renewable energy strategy. Cyprus holds the current EU Presidency. The international agency called on the EU "to rethink its dangerous love affair with biofuels." Current EU law requires 10 percent of transport energy to come from renewable sources by 2020, with almost all of it expected to come from biofuels made from food crops. "The current spike in global food prices is a loud alarm bell that should wake up EU Energy Ministers meeting today. Its this simple: unless EU governments scrap their biofuel mandates, which will double biofuel consumption over the next few years, many more people will be plunged into poverty," said Natalia Alonso, Head of Oxfams EU Office. "Europes biofuels policies are making climate change worse, not better, and poor people are paying the highest price," added Alonso.