EU biofuels

Europe currently wastes land the size of Ireland on crops for biofuels which is an obstacle to tackling the climate crisis and food security, a new study shows. The study commissioned by T&E shows that this land could be used to feed 120 million people or, if given back to nature, could absorb twice as much CO2 as is supposedly saved by powering cars with biofuels. Using an area equivalent to just 2.5% of this land for solar panels would produce the same amount of energy.

Leading NGOs including Oxfam, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, and T&E highlight the absurdity of burning food for fuels ahead of upcoming EU Parliament vote on the EU’s green fuels law.

 

Today, the EU chose fuel over food in the provisional agreement reached on the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), the EU law that incentivises the burning of crops to fuel cars and trucks.

Hundreds of European cities, regions, businesses, youth and faith groups and civil society organisations are urging European leaders to take decisive action to respond to the climate emergency by profoundly altering the way we run our societies and economies to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C.