Phase out EU targets for renewable energy use in transport, says UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Food

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food has called on the EU to phase out its binding targets for the use of renewable energy in transport and national biofuel mandates. This is because of the “negative impacts this policy is having on the enjoyment of the right to food in a number of developing countries.” Land grabs for biofuel plantations  have taken farmland away from traditional farmers and led to hunger, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. By reducing the supply of food, biofuels have made food prices higher.

“The EU Joint Research Centre, as well as independent research institutes, shows that by 2020, EU biofuel targets could push up the agricultural price of vegetable oils by 36 per cent, maize by 22 per cent, wheat by 13 per cent and oilseeds by 20 per cent.”