Greeny News

The case that mandates and subsidies for biofuels have contributed to price rises by diverting huge volumes of food crops to fuel is compelling and widely accepted. (Around 40% of the US corn crop now goes to petrol tanks.) Both the FAO and the World Bank have called for the G20 to stop promoting biofuels. But the two big ethanol producers, the US and Brazil, blocked agreement. American geopolitical interest lies in using its vast agricultural surplus to wean itself off Middle Eastern oil; Brazil's growth, meanwhile, is driven by its agroexports. So the biofuels issue has been kicked into the long grass of "more studies needed".