News

May 18, 2008

That Was The Week That Was: The Pressure On Biofuels Mounts

By Sally White

Biofuels are coming under increasingly heavy attack as a major driver for soaring food prices and world hunger. So despite the fact that crude oil reached a new high of US$128 a barrel, manufacturers and their supporting governments are having to defend their backing of alternative fuels. Last week at the World Biofuels convention in Spain, biofuel manufacturers Spain strenuously denied media charges that they are competing for agriculture land.

In the same vein, on Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Brazil to adopt tougher environmental standards in producing biofuels. But she said that rich nations needed to pay up to help protect rain forests and their biodiversity. Critics say that Brazil’s increased biofuel production is pushing cattle ranchers and farmers deeper into the Amazon and accelerating the destruction of the world's largest rain forest.

Speaker after speaker at World Biofuels said that plant-based fuel...