Cut biofuel targets to feed poor

Britain looks set to review its target to ensure that 5 per cent of transport fuel is made up of biofuels by 2010 as world leaders are urged to divert more grain to tackle the global food crisis.

As more than 40 heads of state meet at the emergency food summit in Rome, Gordon Brown has indicated yesterday that he would support a review of EU biofuel targets.

The price of rice has doubled since January, and dairy products, soya beans, wheat and sugar have also risen rapidly.

A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association said: “To blame biofuels for the global food crisis is to overlook other important factors such as government intervention in the markets and a massive increase in the demand for meat in China and India, but target setting is clearly not working and there is an increasing need to quickly develop second generation biofuels.”

The goal of second generation biofuel processes is to extend the amount of biofuel that can be produced sustainably by using the residual non-food parts of current crops, such as the stems, leaves and husks that are left behind once the food crop has been extracted, as well as other crops that are not used for food purposes, such as switch grass, cereals that bear little grain and more fibre, and also industry waste such as wood chips, skins and pulp from fruit pressing etc.

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