Bjorn Lomborg writes,
Biofuels in the EU take up an area of European farmland larger than the size of Belgium, enough land to feed 100 million people. And the US, whose biofuels program is about twice as large, is now burning more than 5% of all calories in the world. But while biofuels cost billions in subsidies and increase food prices around the world, they barely cut emissions and actually harm the environment.
Last week the EU could have become the first major political actor to curb the increase of biofuels. Unfortunately, the Council of Ministers failed to agree on a proposal to cap their use at 7% of total transport. This would still would have been far too high, but an improvement on the current 10%.
The reduction would have been good for the world’s poor, good for the environment and good for taxpayers. Moreover, the climb-down could have been good news for finding smarter climate solutions in the future. The unexpected delay is truly disappointing.
Read my new article in The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/biofuels/10520736/The-great-biofuels-scandal.html
