Call to Remove Food Crops from European Biofuels

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March 25, 2022

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by Aisling O'Brien (Agriland) Removing wheat from the production of biofuels in Europe would offset over 20% of the collapsed Ukrainian supplies, according to a campaign group.

A study by Transport and Environment (T&E) has shown that 10,000 tonnes of wheat – the equivalent of 15 million loaves of bread – is turned into ethanol for European cars on a daily basis.

T&E is among a group of over 20 organisations that have written to national governments on the issue.

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Major concerns have been raised about food security and supply chains in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Both countries provide about a quarter of the globally traded wheat and barley, 15% of corn and over 60% of sunflower oil.

The Brussels-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) labelled the biofuels lobby’s push for increased production as ‘immoral’ in a time of “acute global food shortages”. READ MORE

As Russia’s war in Ukraine threatens global food supply, Asia needs a rethink of biofuel push (South China Morning Post/This Week in Asia)

G-7 leaders pledge action to address food shortages caused by war (Politico)

As Russia’s War In Ukraine Disrupts Food Production, Experts Question the Expanding Use of Cropland for Biofuels: With the planet facing the related crises of climate change and hunger, should land be used to grow food, like corn for ethanol? (Inside Climate News)

Biofuels’ impact on food security debate resurfaces amid Ukraine war (Euractiv)

Europe should increase food production, postpone environmental requirements and biofuel additives - Dombrovskis (Baltic Times)

Facing a Wheat Crisis, Countries Race to Remake an Entire Market on the Fly -- With war in Ukraine upending global grain trade, other countries scramble to fill the gap in supplies, but soaring prices threaten to worsen food insecurity in poor regions. (Wall Street Journal)

Excerpt from Politico: (U.S. President Joe) Biden said they discussed the need to end any export restrictions that European and other countries have imposed on their food supplies amid panic-buying and supply hoarding.

That could have been a reference to Hungary, which has halted shipments of wheat to other countries, much to the displeasure of the European Commission, the EU’s executive body. However, even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s hoarding of grain was blamed for driving up prices and contributing to world hunger.

The G-7 statement included a joint pledge to avoid export bans and other trade restrictions and to maintain open and transparent markets. It called on other countries to do the same, consistent with World Trade Organization rules, including WTO notification requirements for any exceptions. READ MORE

Excerpt from Inside Climate News: As the Russia-Ukraine conflict draws the relationship between energy and agriculture into sharp relief, it also reframes a long standing and related question over biofuels: Should the world’s finite agricultural land be used to grow fuel rather than food, especially when the planet faces the intertwined crises of growing hunger and climate change?

“There is less land than there is demand for the goods that come from the land,” Benton (Tim Benton, director of the Environment and Society Programme at Chatham House) said.

Today, the grain consumed by the U.S. and Europe to produce biofuels is twice what Ukraine exports in a year.

Some researchers say there’s not enough cropland to support the food needs of a growing global population and grow biofuels without gobbling up land that should be left as forest or native vegetation, enabling it to store more carbon. READ MORE

Excerpt from Euractiv: The biofuels industry has branded the claims “ridiculous”.

Around 10,000 tonnes of wheat – equivalent to 15 million loaves of bread – are burned daily as ethanol in EU cars, according to a recent study by Transport & Environment (T&E). The clean mobility NGO said it was “immoral” to do so amid rising food prices prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “significantly disturbed agricultural markets, creating more uncertainty regarding the future global availability of grains and oilseeds,” states a draft European Commission trade outlook report published Tuesday (5 April).

Ukraine and Russia are responsible for around a quarter of globally traded wheat and barley, 15% of corn and over 60% of sunflower oil. Dozens of countries rely on these exports for food security.

According to the T&E study, preventing the EU importation of wheat for biofuels will allow around 20% of Ukraine’s wheat supply to be exported for food production to countries such as Egypt.

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The industry has come out strongly against the T&E-backed study, arguing that the NGO is purposefully ignoring that biofuel production creates food and animal feed in addition to fuel.

Without biofuel production, the EU would need to import animal feed and more significant quantities of oil, ePURE, a Brussels-based trade association representing ethanol producers, told EURACTIV.

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Instead, he (Xavier Noyon, secretary-general of the European Biodiesel Board) said, the industry has highlighted biofuels’ contribution to energy independence, urging member states not to unilaterally cut biofuel production in response to concerns about rising food and petrol prices.

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“While it’s obvious that during this crisis, as well as before it, we have seen high food prices, no significant relationship between biofuels and global food prices has been observed in the last years. Many other factors, such as the oil price, have a much more significant impact on food prices,” he said.

Noyon further stressed that curtailing biofuels would require more significant amounts of fossil fuels to make up the shortfall.

“European produced biodiesel is the main tool to decarbonise the road transport sector – which is still reliant on more than 90% fossil liquid fuels,” he said. “Today and for the foreseeable future, the only thing that would replace biodiesel would be fossil diesel.” READ MORE