biofuel

Global biofuel policies should be urgently reviewed to ensure that the world’s poor benefit by ending trade-distorting subsidies favouring developed nations while countering the rise in food prices sparked by the diversion of foodstuff to energy production, according to a new United Nations report released today.

A United Nations-backed group of international experts has endorsed a first draft of a new global sustainability standard for biofuels to assess their economic, social and environmental effects.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned today that the increasing demand for liquid biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel, the conversion of agricultural land for their production and the increased use of natural resources could be detrimental to women in rural areas.

Increased demand for biofuels is leading to changes in agricultural markets that could drive up global prices for many farm products, according to a new United Nations-backed report.