The European Commission's draft EU Renewable Energy Directive, published today, ignores numerous recent warnings on the environmental and social damage of its proposed 10 per cent target for agrofuel use in the transport sector by 2020.
EU member states had demanded that the 10 per cent target be met 'sustainably', but the EU Joint Research Centre and the UK Parliament Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) have expressed strong doubts that this can be achieved. The EAC has also argued for a moratorium on agrofuel targets.
The report by the European Parliament’s Rapporteur for the new laws on biofuels, Claude Turmes MEP, concludes that there is “overwhelming evidence to drop the mandatory 10 per cent target for fuels from renewables” [1].
Campaigners from a range of Europe-wide organisations welcomed the proposals to scrap the target and urged the industry and environment committees to drop the target [2].
Sofia Monsalve Suárez from FIAN said:
Brussels/Copenhagen, 9 December - Business lobbyists have been pushing governments to reject tough targets on carbon emissions cuts, according to a new lobbying guide published today by Corporate Europe Observatory [1].
Making money out of climate change is a four-page guide to some of the business lobby groups active in Copenhagen. It highlights how the UN climate negotiations have become a major target for business groups, keen to see their preferred “solutions” - such as nuclear power, a global emissions market and carbon capture and storage - included on the agenda.
Brussels, 10 October 2011 – Finance sector lobbyists are pushing the European Commission to block tighter regulation of the EU’s carbon market, a new report from Corporate Europe Observatory and Carbon Trade Watch, published today, reveals[1].
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) is a research and campaign group working to expose and challenge the privileged access and influence enjoyed by corporations and their lobby groups in EU policy making.
