EU Reconsidering Biofuel Targets

The European Commission is re-thinking draft rules on reaching the EU's target to boost biofuels amid strong criticism by green campaign groups and development NGOs that the goal could lead to environmental damage and social dislocation.

The commission is due on 23 January to publish legislation on the production of biofuels, aimed at promoting the use of these alternatives to oil.

In March last year, EU leaders agreed that 10 percent of transport fuels should come from biofuels by 2020, a goal the commission is now turning into concrete legislation.

But even before making the legislation public, several expert reports have highlighted the possible negative consequences of the target.

Last Friday, a group of 17 NGOs - including Oxfam and Friends of the Earth - sent a letter to EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs, asking him to introduce much tougher standards for biofuel production or give up mandatory transport biofuel targets altogether.

They argued that the existing draft legislation does not provide protection for important ecosystems, such as savannas or permanent grasslands "that may be threatened by expanding agriculture to meet the EU's biofuel target."