Brown calls for moratorium on biofuels

UK prime minister Gordon Brown is calling for a moratorium on cereal-based biofuels at the opening of the G8 summit in Japan today.

The move will bring him into direct conflict with the US, where subsidised corn-based biofuels are a central part of president George Bush's bid for energy independence.

It will also be a further blow to companies that have invested in biofuels based on the enthusiasm for these fossil-fuel alternatives shown by most developed nation governments up until a month ago.

The reason for the rethink on biofuels is that well-reasoned reports from environmentalists and NGOs, the International Food Policy Research Institute and governments' own scientific officers and departments have shown that cereal-based biofuels have a greater negative environmental impact than was realised when official targets for their use were first set.

At the G8 conference in Hokkaido, Brown will refer to a study from Professor Ed Gallagher, chairman of the Renewable Fuels Agency, on the sustainability of biofuels.

His position is likely to be supported by European Commission president Joes Manuel Barroso.

"We need to drive forward the efforts to reach a global climate change deal by 2009, achieve the Millennium Development Goals and react to rising food and oil prices," said Barroso.

The latest communiqués from the EC express significant back-pedalling on biofuels.

"The target has never been to reach 10 per cent biofuels [usage] at any price," says a recent EC statement outlining the Commission's policy response to rising food prices.

The EC advocates 10 per cent biofuels usage "under strict conditions", including a "workable and robust sustainability scheme, and commercial viability for second generation biofuels".

This issue is currently under discussion at the council and the European Parliament.

"Europe can best make a contribution by doing everything possible to show that a sustainability scheme can work and to ensure a rapid transition to the new generation of biofuels," says the EC's statement.

The EU objective for sustainable biofuels is still part of the EU's commitment to reduce its CO2 emissions by 20 per cent by 2020.