‘Are Biofuels Sustainable?’

The Environmental Audit Committee has today published a report criticising the EU for being “reckless” in subsidising biofuels in the absence of legislation to protect tropical forests. Members argue that increased growth of sugar beet and wheat for biofuels in Britain would push up the price of food, along with compromising the conservation of numerous species of birds, plants and animals.

The Committee call for a suspension of subsidies for biofuels by the EU, which it calls “expensive and inefficient”. Instead, they say, funds should be directed towards schemes to grow ‘bio-mass’, wood and other crops grown on non-crop land and used in the generation of heat, and second generation biofuels, generating energy from waste.