Sievers says land-use arguments against biofuels in Europe are tenuous
A new issue now tops EU biofuels debates: subsidies. First reports suggest that EU biofuels policy is costly, and that subsidies paid to biofuel producers are lush. A fuller exploration of the economics (and subsidies) of EU biofuels reveals that biofuels are among the best economic development - and cheapest carbon abatement - vehicles we have. In other words, the biofuels industry welcomes a serious economic debate.
Unfortunately, serious debate is unlikely if the past is any guide.
Earlier the year, the main issue was land-grabbing, a potent and even stomach-wrenching argument whose only flaw is that there really isn't any, absolutely zero, land-grabbed biofuel being exported to Europe.
While the facts of land-grabbing prove that EU biofuels policy was unfairly maligned by NGOs on this issue, the public has never received this update.