ActionAid estimates that 100 million people could be hunger stricken if the UK and the EU stick to their plans in increasing biofuels consumption.

According to the ActionAid report ‘Meals per gallon: the impact of industrial biofuels on people and global hunger’, the EU’s commitment to obtain 10% transport fuel from renewable resources by 2020 is likely to be fulfilled by industrial biofuels.

Achieving the 2020 target will be assisted by an estimated subsidy of €13.7 billion per annum.

Biofuels made on an industrial scale from agricultural crops are partly blamed for a 30% global food price hike since 2008.

The report states that the industrial demand will especially harm the poor in developing countries by leading to a sharp rise in world’s hunger and starvation index.

Tim Rice, the report author, said: “Biofuels are driving a global human tragedy. Local food prices have already risen massively. As biofuel production gains pace, this can only accelerate.”

ActionAid estimates a worldwide increase of up to 600 million going hungry in order to feed EU’s biofuel consumption with 16 million people going hungry for every 1% rise in the price of food.

And the charity says that it’s not just hunger, the biofuel drive is effecting the environment as well by leading to a global increase of land grabbing, especially in developing countries, driving people out of work and leading to massive deforestation.

As the EU nations get close to finalising 10 year national action plans for renewable strategies, ActionAid is calling on UK and other nations to ensure capping of industrial biofuel consumption and promotion of sustainable biofuels.

by Pallavi Malhotra

SPONSOR A CHILD WITH ACTIONAID