Jatropha is harvested in Taabo, Ivory Coast. European demand for biofuels is pressurising global land and water resources. Photograph: Kambou Sia/AFP
European targets to replace fossil fuels with biofuels are contributing to spikes in food prices and global hunger, according to the latest analyis by Oxfam.
The aid organisation is calling for EU energy ministers meeting in Cyprus on Monday to scrap mandates that commit member states to sourcing 10% of transport energy from renewable sources by 2020. It has calculated that the land required to meet these mandates for biofuels for European cars for one year could feed 127 million people.
A draft proposal leaked last week suggested the European commission was considering capping biofuel mandates at 5% by 2020, in recognition of fears that they compete with food production and are not as environmentally-friendly as first thought. Aid agencies say this is not enough, and want to see them removed altogether.