All Annotations of Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis | Environment | The Guardian[Preview]

saved by11 people, first byBruce Silverthorne on 2008-07-04, last byThao Le on 2008-08-13

• Internal World Bank study delivers blow to plant energy drive
• confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.
• Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.
• The figure emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises.
• Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously
  estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the
  Guardian.
• "Political leaders seem intent on suppressing and ignoring the strong evidence that biofuels are a major factor in recent food price rises,"
• Rising food prices have pushed 100m people worldwide below the poverty line
• Rising food prices have pushed 100m people worldwide below the poverty line, estimates the World Bank,
• It argues that production of biofuels has distorted food markets in three main ways. First, it has diverted grain away from food for fuel, with over a third of US corn now used to produce ethanol and about half of vegetable oils in the EU going towards the production of biodiesel. Second, farmers have been encouraged to set land aside for biofuel production. Third, it has sparked financial speculation in grains, driving prices up higher.
• "Without the increase in biofuels, global wheat and maize stocks would not have declined appreciably and price increases due to other factors would have been moderate," says the report. The basket of food prices examined in the study rose by 140% between 2002 and this February. The report estimates that higher energy and fertiliser prices accounted for an increase of only 15%, while biofuels have been responsible for a 75% jump over that period.
• It argues that production of biofuels has distorted food markets in three main ways. First, it has diverted grain away from food for fuel, with over a third of US corn now used to produce ethanol and about half of vegetable oils in the EU going towards the production of biodiesel. Second, farmers have been encouraged to set land aside for biofuel production. Third, it has sparked financial speculation in grains, driving prices up higher.
• The report points out biofuels derived from sugarcane, which Brazil specializes in, have not had such a dramatic impact.