Biofuels cause 75pc increase in food prices, report says
By Paul Eccleston
Last Updated: 12:40pm BST 04/07/2008
http://www.richimag.co.uk/biofools/
Environmental campaigners have called for a change in policy on biofuels after a report that they have caused a 75 per cent increase in food prices.
G8 'acting too slowly' on climate change
Extinction threatens more species than thought
Telegraph Earth homepage
An unpublished World Bank study claimed the EU and US drive towards biofuels was having a massive impact on both food supply and prices.
Palm oil plantations produce fuel instead of food
The US Government had claimed that biofuels - mainly ethanol produced from crops such as corn, palm and soya - was responsible for only a three per cent rise in food prices.
President Bush had linked higher food prices to a bigger demand by wealthier consumers in China and India.
But the World Bank report, drawn up by an internationally-respected economist, states unequivocally that income growth in developing countries was not a major factor in price rises and that a shortage of grain caused by droughts had had only a marginal impact.
"Without the increase in biofuels, global wheat and maize stocks would not have declined appreciably and price increases due to other factors would have been moderate," the report states.
advertisement
