Ministers urged to join biofuel debate

Labour Party environment spokesperson Joanna Tuffy has urged ministers to get behind European Environment Agency scientists, according to Friends Of The Earth Ireland.


The scientists are calling on the EU to suspend the target to used 10% of biofuels in petrol by 2020.

Ms Tuffy wants the minister for environment, heritage and local government, John Gormley, and energy minister Eamon Ryan, to support the cause.

Friends of the Earth Ireland has expressed growing concerns about the negative impacts of biofuel production.

More agriculture space given to the production of crops means less space is available for the production of food.

The organisations said: “As a result, food prices, not just here in Ireland, but worldwide, are skyrocketing.

“Just this week we saw that the cost of basic foodstuffs have gone up by almost 10% in the last 12 months, which is double the rate of inflation.”

New legislation came into force in the UK on Tuesday which means that all petrol sold must have at least 2.5% biofuels.

The Washington DC-based World Bank has said that an increase in global corn production worldwide over the last three years accounted for biofuels production in the US, with existing stocks getting depleted for other global uses.

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