Another Inconvenient Truth: Biofuels are not the answer to climate or fuel crisis says Oxfam

Biofuel policies are contributing to food insecurity and inflation, and are not helping with climate or fuel security, according to a new report by international agency Oxfam. In today's report 'Another Inconvenient Truth, Oxfam calculates that rich-country biofuels policies have dragged more than 30 million people into poverty, and are responsible for up to 30% of the global rise in food prices.

'Policies promoting biofuels are actually helping to accelerate climate change and deepen poverty and hunger, said report author Rob Bailey, Oxfam's biofuels policy advisor. 'Thanks to generous subsidies and tax breaks, the fuel value for a crop now exceeds its food value. It is no surprise that, despite bumper crops, grain reserves are at an all-time low.

'Canada can begin to undo its mistaken policies by rejecting the biofuels legislation now before the Senate, said Robert Fox, executive director of Oxfam Canada. 'The law would in effect tax poor consumers through higher food prices by subsidizing the conversion of the corn crop into ethanol.

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