To help ease soaring food and fuel prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UK and Germany at a meeting of the G7 group of nations on Monday. While this was reportedly , the UK and Germany could still have a big impact if they decide to unilaterally reduce the amount of biofuels they use.
鈥淭he UK or Germany could just go it alone,鈥� says at Green Alliance, a UK-based environmental think tank.
In many countries, ethanol made from foods such as wheat is blended with petrol and sold as, say, E10 or E15 fuel depending on the ethanol percentage. Some diesel is also made from vegetable oils.
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Because Ukraine was a major exporter of wheat and sunflower oil, the war has caused prices of these commodities to soar, causing more hardship for those struggling to pay for food. As 快猫短视频 reported in March, so much food is now turned into ethanol and biodiesel that if the US and Europe cut biofuel production, it could more than compensate for the loss of exports from Ukraine.
The US and Canada are on the grounds that it would undermine efforts to reduce carbon emissions and also lead to higher fuel prices. Neither argument stands up, say experts.
In the US, ethanol currently costs as much as petrol, says at Princeton University, so reducing ethanol production would have minimal or no impact on costs at the pump. But cutting biofuel production would have a big effect on food prices, he says, which depend on the expectations of markets as well as the actual supply.
鈥淚t sends a signal,鈥� Searchinger says.
As for undermining efforts to limit global warming, many studies show that if the full impacts of growing food to turn into fuels are counted, most biofuels only slightly reduce emissions or even increase them.
鈥淏iofuels have never been a viable means of carbon reduction,鈥� says at the University of Minnesota. In addition, land use changes to grow the required crops can also harm biodiversity, he says.
Benton says the opposition of the US is really to do with domestic politics, as the country has strong lobbying groups representing farmers and biofuel-related industries. Especially with mid-term elections coming up in November, no president would want to lose voters by cutting biofuel production, he says.
But for the UK government, cutting biofuels may be more appealing. 鈥淭here are obvious political opportunities here,鈥� says Benton.
In the UK, biofuels cost more than petrol, so reducing the proportion of ethanol added to fuel could lower the cost of a litre of petrol by a few pence in addition to lowering food prices. Doing this would allow the UK government to claim it is tackling the cost-of-living crisis affecting its citizens.
Internationally, it would help ease the global food crisis exacerbated by the Ukraine war. The UK alone turns enough food into biofuels each year , according to a Green Alliance analysis. That compares with 10 million or so people estimated to be at risk of not getting enough food due to the fall in crop exports from Ukraine, the analysis says.
