Fuel or Food?

The EU’s Agriculture Commissioner remains clear on the importance of bio-fuels and she stands by on the EU’s promise to make bio-fuels account for 10% of all fuels by 2010. But the EU’s own scientific advisors are suggesting the downfalls of bio-fuels are too important to ignore. This scientist says more evidence suggests more bio-fuels don’t help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the EU should halt its bio-fuels programs. On top of that, bio-fuels use too much land�they would need about 50 million acres to bring the EU’s bio-fuels amount to 10%. These arguments against bio-fuels are not new, but what’s significant is the warnings come from within Europe. The EU’s President last week dug in his heels when talking about bio-fuels’ impact on food prices. The EU scientists don’t mention that directly in their report, but they say it is an important factor. Meanwhile European environmental groups are keeping up the pressure against bio-fuels.