By IRNA
London : The EU should abandon its biofuels targets because they are damaging the environment, an all-party group of British MPs warned Monday.
The Environmental Audit Committee said biofuels are ineffective at cutting greenhouse gases and can be expensive. Problematic emissions from cars can be cut more cheaply and with lower environmental risk, it said.
“Biofuels can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from road transport – but at present most biofuels have a detrimental impact on the environment overall,” committee chairman Tim Yeo said.
In a report, the MPs said targets are putting up food prices and threatening food supplies for the poor. The EU and UK, it said, should concentrate on “sustainable” biofuels such as waste vegetable oil and the development of more efficient technologies.
The warning comes as the EU is due to launch a huge, over-arching climate change strategy which includes rules aimed at reducing damage from biofuels.
In a draft, the EU has admitted that the current target of 5.75 per cent biofuels on the roads by 2010 is unlikely to be achieved, but still maintains a target of 10 per cent road biofuel by 2020.
The committee said the UK government and the EU have been “misguided” in prioritizing biofuel for road transport when it is much more efficient under current technology to use biofuels for heating and cooling.
It calls for a moratorium on the target until it is proved that biofuels can be produced sustainably, saying current agricultural support for biofuels is largely unsustainable.