Sumario: 3 June 2008, Rome - Address by Mariann Fischer Boel, Member of the European Commission responsible for Agriculture and Rural Development, on EU Biofuels Policy at FAO summit dinner
Not easy to be policy makers these days. We have all read with interest the recent FAO-OECD outlook for the coming 10 years, which provide the backdrop to this summit with its prediction of a future with higher food prices than those known in the recent past. But let us remind ourselves that two years ago nobody - including FAO-OECD - had predicted or mentioned even a remote possibility for the type of food price crises that we have been experiencing for the past 18 months. We need to take
action, but we also have to be careful not to make dramatic policy changes overnight that can have very serious long term consequences - based on a scenario on price, supply and demand, which still is somewhat uncertain.
No doubt we need to act in the areas discussed in the first round of our discussion tonight - food aid and supply of fertilisers and seeds to developing countries, more research and much greater concentration on agriculture in development programmes. Here there is no need for hesitation - let us move forward rapidly. The European Union has already acted and is prepared to do even more.
When it comes to biofuels the starting point - at least as far as the European Union is concerned - is our energy and climate objectives. Our policy choice has not been inspired by agricultural policy considerations. We have set ourselves very ambitious aims - 20% reduction in CO2 emission in 2020 and for the same year a target of 20% of our energy supply coming from renewable resources. For the future of this planet - including the poor in this world - it is essential that we succeed and that
others are prepared to work in the same direction. Failure to tackle climate change could have dramatic effects - for agricultural production and for livelihood around the globe.
To reach our targets huge efforts in terms of energy savings and promotion of sources like wind and solar energy are needed. But so is the development of biomass and biofuels. That's why we have added a 10% blending target among the compulsory policy objectives. Otherwise we will fail to reach our energy or climate targets. There are no easy or cheap alternatives. We want to accelerate the movement towards second generation biofuels as much as we can. But without first generation we risk never
getting to the second generation or to convince our car industry, that in the future, there will also be biofuels in the tank.
We want to be sure that the biofuels which we produce and import contribute substantially to our climate objectives. That's why we are presently developing strict sustainability criteria for biofuels with regard to minimum CO2 savings and land use.
We are convinced that a realistic policy of the kind we have developed can be realised without pressure on food supplies. Let there be no doubt: Food production will continue to be the all important objective for European Agriculture.
But we have to combine our energy, climate and food supply objectives. They are all of crucial importance for our future.
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