A leading charity has joined the calls by top scientists for compulsory EU biofuel targets to be reconsidered.

Barbara Stocking, CEO of Oxfam GB said that “Recent estimates suggest that increased demand for biofuels accounts for 30% of recent food price rises, while mounting scientific evidence shows biofuels are having an overall negative impact on climate change.”

The UK government has already promised to review their target of making 5% of transport fuels biofuel within two years. However, the EU has continued discussing even more ambitious targets – despite the widespread evidence that the carbon footprint of biofuels can be larger than that of fossil fuels.

Stocking said that “the urgent review of compulsory biofuels targets in rich countries to stop their inflationary impact” was “a priority”.

I’ve been writing articles on the unwanted side effects of increased biofuel use for some months now and over that time the case has only got stronger. Environmentalists, poverty campaigners and scientists all agree that we need to take a step back and look at the bigger impact of biofuels.

So what does the EU do? Plough onwards with plans to make increased use of biofuels compulsory…