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Major questions still unanswered in EU over effect of biofuels on environment.  UK government to hold off on increasing biofuel mandates until more studies completed.

ActionAid, an international anti-poverty NGO, reports that the UK government won’t be committing to increasing the amount of biofuels in its petrol and diesel supplies according to civil servants at the Department for Transport (DfT) until more studies examining the impact of biofuels on the environment are completed.

Instead, ActionAid explains, the government department will wait for the findings of a number of scientific studies that are due to be released later this year before holding a formal consultation.  The UK, like all other EU member states, must submit a National Action Plan to the European Commission by June outlining how it plans to ensure that 10 percent of all fuel used for transport will come from renewable sources by 2020.

A major ActionAid report launched in February concluded that an additional 100 million people could be forced into hunger if UK and EU biofuel targets are allowed to go ahead.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) recently released a report for the European Commission, which concludes that indirect land-use change has “an important effect on the environmental sustainability of biofuels”.  Nevertheless, it argues that current EU renewable energy targets are small enough to safeguard the environmental sustainability of biofuels.  Accordingly, the EU is sticking by its target requiring 10 percent of all road transport fuel to come from renewable sources by 2020, despite media reports suggesting that the EU might U-turn on its biofuel policy.

The released report contains models that show a connection between the increased use of biofuels and higher indirect greenhouse gas emissions, but also show that the net outcome is still positive compared to a business as usual approach (e.g. continued use of fossil fuels).  The report assumes that only 5.6 percent of renewable transport energy would come from biofuels.

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