Is EU’s new framework for Biofuel really sustainable?

On the 17^th of October 2012, the European Commission issued its new recommendations on biofuel. The EU thus made biofuel producers aware that their activity had to evolve towards more sustainable standards. In an attempt to ensure that biofuel production will not compete with food industry, organic waste should be used in priority to produce renewable energy.

Back in 2009, the EU adopted a major goal: its aim was to get the transportation sector to use 10% of renewable energy in 2020. Thus Europe expected to reduce its dependency on imported fuel and supporting sustainable development. Biofuels were of course one of many energy sources to be developed in that scope. However, they have been subject to controversy since then and their integration to the panel of sustainable energies now knows some conditions.

When biofuels production started to thrive in the 2000’s, it appeared that this kind of energy was likely to make the food prices raise and to deepen the food crisis around the world. Crops and raw material used to make biofuel were indeed often cultivate detrimentally to agricultural and food security considerations. The risk of the biofuel dilemma was besides very well illustrated in 2007. This year, Mexico exported so much of its crop production that food shortages now remembered as “tortilla crisis” occured in the country.

Five years after these events, the European Commission finally completed its policy on biofuels with the intention to meet obvious sustainability criteria. On the 17^th of October, EU decided to limit the use of “food-based biofuel”. Such fuel thus won’t represent more than 5% of the energy used to meet the 10% renewable energy target set in 2009. The European Commission instead expects biofuel production to use farm waste and algae.

Such a decision is an encouraging sign from the EU institutions. However, we can arguably doubt of its future efficiency already. Tracy Carty – spokesman for the Oxfam NGO – indeed made a declaration saying that “the cap is higher than the current levels of biofuels use and will do nothing to reduce high food prices”.

Now that the EU decided the issue of biofuel had to be tackled, it sounds like the success of its decisions is a matter of proportions. If a 5% cap is indeed not enough to prevent biofuel production to compete with food production, limitation levels should be reexamined since renewable energy were always meant to fuel engines and not starvation throughout the world.