Message to the UK Govt: turn your back on EU biofuel targets

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Message to the UK Government: turn your back on EU biofuel targets

Geoff Hoon MP, Secretary of State for Transport. Credit: www.dft.gov.uk

While millions of people go hungry, biofuels production is diverting crops that could be used for food. Geoff Hoon, the new Secretary of State for Transport, must use his influence to stop biofuel targets deepening poverty.

A new chance to stop biofuels deepening poverty

Made from plant products, such as maize and wheat, biofuel crops compete for land that could be used to grow food, and clearing land for biofuel production releases massive amounts of CO2.

The European Union is planning laws which will mean that fuel suppliers will have to meet targets to blend biofuels with petrol and diesel.

Thanks to campaigning by thousands of Oxfam supporters the EU started to rethink its biofuels policies. It's now considering introducing safeguards to stop biofuels production harming poor people.

This is promising step forward, but it's now critical we keep the pressure on.

The UK Government is a powerful player within the EU and Geoff Hoon - Secretary of State for Transport - has a real opportunity to use his influence.

Send Geoff Hoon an urgent message letting him know you want him to ensure biofuel targets don't deepen poverty.

Congratulations on your new job as Secretary of State for Transport.

You'll be aware that in September, MEPs made their opinion on biofuels clear: that the proposed 2020 10% target must be split between biofuels and other more promising technologies; the target itself should be subject to review after several years; that biofuels should not compete with food; and that there should be strict standards in place to regulate their production. You will also be aware that as well as recommending the introduction of social standards for biofuels, the Gallagher Review proposed a target in the range of 4 to 6 percent by 2020, similar to the opinion of the European Parliament.

As many experts agree, biofuel production is having a huge impact on the lives of people living in poverty by significantly contributing to rising food prices, by violating the human rights and land rights of some of the world's most vulnerable people and by increasing greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation and land use change. I believe that the 10% target cannot be justified.

I want to know what the UK Government is doing to keep to its commitment to ensure that biofuel production will not harm the lives of people in developing countries. I want to know what the UK government is doing to keep to its commitment to take the recommendations of Gallagher forwards.

Please ensure that the 10 per cent target does not prove disastrous for the world's poorest people by supporting the opinion of the European Parliament in Council negotiations.

Yours sincerely

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