Report urges end to G20 biofuel subsidies

Government subsidies to promote the use of biofuels should be eliminated, a group of leading multinational organisations has concluded in a report issued in June 2011 outlining ways to reduce volatility in global food prices.

The report was prepared by 10 agencies, including the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation and the UN, and is to be delivered to agriculture ministers from the Group of 20, which commissioned it.

The findings may raise pressure on the European Union to revisit one of its policies, which mandates that 10% of the bloc’s transport fuel must come from renewable sources – chiefly biofuels – by 2020.

ESO: Background information: Renewable energy: Biofuels and other renewable energy in the transport sector http://www.europeansources.info/record/website-renewable-energy-biofuels/

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