Biofuels were once touted as the miraculous answer to our energy shortages and fears around climate change. But mounting evidence has exposed this supposedly ‘green fuel’ as the ultimate red herring. 

The local impact

Huge government-set biofuel targets in rich countries are providing an incentive for foreign biofuel companies to oust farmers in poor countries from their fertile land.

In just five African countries alone, 1.1 million hectares have been given over to biofuels – an area the size of Belgium. This global land grab is leaving local communities in poor countries stranded, unable to grow their own food or afford the food in their local market. Foreign biofuel companies are routinely breaking promises they make to communities to provide local improvements and jobs.

The global impact

Burning huge amounts of food in our cars has reduced the amount available to eat and subsequently caused global food prices to rocket.

In 2008, food prices rose so dramatically that people rioted in more than 30 countries. Biofuels were widely touted as one of the main causes. ActionAid estimates that an extra 30 million people were pushed into hunger as a result of biofuels during this crisis.

With almost 1 billion people already living in hunger, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation is predicting another looming food crisis which will hit developing countries even harder.

The environmental impact

And if that wasn’t all catastrophic enough, evidence shows that most biofuels release more greenhouse gasses than the fossil fuels they were designed to replace. This means that increasing the target for the amount of biofuel that must be in our petrol and diesel will actually make climate change worse!

Despite the rising human and environmental costs of biofuels, governments – including our own – are still spending billions of pounds promoting and subsidising their production. In doing so, they are exacerbating hunger and land grabbing and diverting much needed political attention and financial support away from genuine solutions to tackling climate change