This month, following the discussion about the need for sustainability criteria required to reach the 10% biofuels target within the EU Directive for the Promotion of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, the claim is:

"The 10% EU target is required to establish a 100% sustainable biofuels market within ten years”

This week, our guest commenting on this Sustatement is Adrian Bebb, Friends of the Earth Agrofuels Campaign Coordinator.

“Europe’s 10% biofuel target should be abolished because the current biofuel market is completely unsustainable and is directly contributing to the rising food prices crisis and increasing deforestation.

According to reports from the IMF and the World Bank, by using agricultural products from the food chain to feed cars, the biofuels market contributed some 30% to the rising food prices.

Biofuels are not a solution to reduce emissions from the transport sector. Actually they are an inefficient way to use biomass, often even worse for the climate than using oil. The real solution would be sorting out our current transport system using more efficient cars and public transport systems. Biofuels in this context are a false solution.

The theory that a first generation biofuels market is needed as a bridge towards second generation biofuels is nonsense. It's only an excuse to build a huge infrastructure for the current unsustainable biofuels market. Furthermore, second generation biofuels are still under a big question mark regarding real sustainability.

Concerning the whole sustainability criteria being discussed in Brussels, I consider it as a green wash that will never work. The biofuels market is too complex, land-use change is very hard to track, and large-scale production is impossible to control. Europe could come up with criteria, but the truth is that to implement and monitor these criteria elsewhere - like in Malaysia, Brazil or Indonesia, where governments are weak and laws are rarely enforced - is impossible.

Today, biofuels represent around 2% of the fuel used in transport in Europe and already this is unsustainable. If a mandatory target of 10% is to be imposed, the results would be disastrous.

I believe that without the EU mandatory targets, the biofuel market will collapse due to increasing evidence of its unsustainability.”