High Peak Liberal Democrats

Julian Huppert writes ending food-crop based first generation biofuels

The issue of food being used for fuel has become increasingly contentious. And decisions are fast approaching - in the European Parliament Liberal Democrat MEP colleagues are currently negotiating capping the use of damaging biofuels. Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat Transport Minister will also be taking up the issue in the Council of Ministers.

While first generation biofuels were lauded as the future it is now clear they cause more problems than they solve. The UK's Gallagher Review in 2010 in fact concluded that in some cases biofuels can generate a higher carbon footprint than fossil fuels and contribute to deforestation. Subsidies for first generation biofuels have now been condemned by the OECD, World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations to name but a few.

They highlight that not only have food-based biofuels proved to be environmentally unfriendly they have also had a damaging effect on communities across the globe. The need for land used to grow crops for fuels has led to land rights conflicts, land-grabbing, and the overall degradation of the livelihoods of local communities and indigenous peoples. The subsidies we pay essentially drive these problems and we have a moral obligation to respond.

That is why the European Commission is now proposing to cap the volume of biofuels created from food crops at 5%. This will open up the market to second generation biofuels - which although in their infancy are expected to be a far more sustainable source. We hope that this will start the process to ensure that by 2020 all support for food-crop-based first-generation biofuels should be ended.

However, it is important that the negative implications of unsustainable biofuel production are not seen as reflective of biofuel as a whole. Second generation biofuels have substantial advantages, and will have a role to play in a sustainable future.

The Liberal Democrats will continue to support innovation and press for greener forms of energy. This year in Glasgow the Liberal Democrat Green Growth and Green Jobs policy paper will be presented demonstrating our ongoing commitment in this area. We are on the frontiers of new technologies and sciences and they will not always work as we hope. What is important is that we act quickly when they don't and take swift action to improve them.

* Julian Huppert is Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge and our speaker at East Midlands Liberal Democrats European Dinner after Autumn Conference

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