EU Official: Biofuels Must Not Deprive the World's Poor of Food, More Environmentally Friendly Biofuels Are Needed.
Biofuels must not deprive the world's poor of food, a senior European official said, as he proposed a greater focus on second-generation biofuels that would be more environmentally friendly.
Guenter Verheugen, a vice president of the European Commission, was speaking against a background of growing doubts about whether the European Union should continue a policy of elevating biofuels to an environmental priority.
"It makes no sense to make car fuel from plants that ought to provide human and animal food," said Verheugen in the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, extracts of which were made available Saturday.
The accent should be instead on research into second-generation biofuels, "for example technology using hydrogen," added Verheugen, who is the EU commissioner responsible for enterprise and industry.
The biofuel industry fears the controversy could inhibit research into second-generation biofuels which are environmentally more friendly since they would be made from non-edible agricultural waste such as straw. "What matters to the commission is sustainable development," Verheugen said. "It will not work if production of basic foodstaffs is hindered or tropical forest is cut down" for biofuels.
The 27-nation European Union wants biofuels to make up 10 percent of all EU vehicle fuel by 2020, but the target has come under fire in the face of soaring global food prices that have hit poor countries particularly hard. Biofuel development is part of a wider package to reduced EU greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
Japan Giving Loans Up to $4.8 Billion
Japan plans to extend up to 500 billion yen (4.8 billion dollars) worth of low-interest loans to developing countries over the next five years to help them fight global warming, a report said Thursday.
The first batch of the new loans would go to Indonesia and total some 20-30 billion yen, the Nikkei economic daily said, adding Nigeria and Guyana are also candidates of aid recipients in the future.
Japan's government plans to provide the loans for alternative energy projects such as wind and solar power generation, the installation of energy-saving equipment at power plants and forestation projects, it said.
The new yen loans would carry annual interest rates of 0.4-0.5 percent, substantially lower than the already low interest rates of some 1.0-1.2 percent now charged on 40-year loans provided by Japan, the Nikkei said.
Japan is hoping to shape the course of negotiations on a new climate treaty, which would cover the period after the Kyoto Protocol's obligations expire in 2012, when it hosts July's summit of the Group of Eight rich nations.
The Nikkei said Tokyo hoped to win support for its plan from nations receiving the yen loans. In talks on a post-Kyoto treaty, Japan has pushed hard for a "sectoral" approach to global warming, in which each industry would have its own efficiency targets.
Biofuels must not deprive the world's poor of food, a senior European official said, as he proposed a greater focus on second-generation biofuels that would be more environmentally friendly.
Guenter Verheugen, a vice president of the European Commission, was speaking against a background of growing doubts about whether the European Union should continue a policy of elevating biofuels to an environmental priority.
"It makes no sense to make car fuel from plants that ought to provide human and animal food," said Verheugen in the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, extracts of which were made available Saturday.
The accent should be instead on research into second-generation biofuels, "for example technology using hydrogen," added Verheugen, who is the EU commissioner responsible for enterprise and industry.
The biofuel industry fears the controversy could inhibit research into second-generation biofuels which are environmentally more friendly since they would be made from non-edible agricultural waste such as straw. "What matters to the commission is sustainable development," Verheugen said. "It will not work if production of basic foodstaffs is hindered or tropical forest is cut down" for biofuels.
The 27-nation European Union wants biofuels to make up 10 percent of all EU vehicle fuel by 2020, but the target has come under fire in the face of soaring global food prices that have hit poor countries particularly hard. Biofuel development is part of a wider package to reduced EU greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
Japan Giving Loans Up to $4.8 Billion
Japan plans to extend up to 500 billion yen (4.8 billion dollars) worth of low-interest loans to developing countries over the next five years to help them fight global warming, a report said Thursday.
The first batch of the new loans would go to Indonesia and total some 20-30 billion yen, the Nikkei economic daily said, adding Nigeria and Guyana are also candidates of aid recipients in the future.
Japan's government plans to provide the loans for alternative energy projects such as wind and solar power generation, the installation of energy-saving equipment at power plants and forestation projects, it said.
The new yen loans would carry annual interest rates of 0.4-0.5 percent, substantially lower than the already low interest rates of some 1.0-1.2 percent now charged on 40-year loans provided by Japan, the Nikkei said.
Japan is hoping to shape the course of negotiations on a new climate treaty, which would cover the period after the Kyoto Protocol's obligations expire in 2012, when it hosts July's summit of the Group of Eight rich nations.
The Nikkei said Tokyo hoped to win support for its plan from nations receiving the yen loans. In talks on a post-Kyoto treaty, Japan has pushed hard for a "sectoral" approach to global warming, in which each industry would have its own efficiency targets.
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