Agrofuels Europe should stop its drive for agrofuels which have devastating environmental and social consequences

French banks financing land grabs

17 April 2013

Between 2009 and 2012, French banks granted more than 4 billion euro in loans to European producers of agrofuels, and have issued these companies stocks and bonds for a total amount of more than 3 billion euro according to new research from Friends of the Earth France and Oxfam France. The groups called on French banks to stop financing agrofuel producers – who threaten global food security and are fuelling land grabs, especially in Liberia.

France
22 February 2013

Inaction as biofuels continue to grab land and pollute

Reforms to Europe's rules on biofuels were top of the agenda at a meeting of EU energy ministers in Brussels today.

It was the first time ministers commented on proposals to limit the quantities of crop-based biofuels that can count towards EU renewable energy targets. [1] The policy was proposed by the European Commission last year as a means to address so-called 'indirect land use change' (ILUC) where agriculture has to expand to accommodate biofuels demand. [2]

21 February 2013

Biofuels drive land grabs, EU energy ministers warned

Cape Town/Brussels - Biofuels have driven nearly 300 large-scale land grabs worldwide, a new report by GRAIN reveals today [1], on the eve of a meeting of EU energy ministers to debate the future of biofuels in Europe. [2]

EU targets have put Europe at the forefront of increasing global demand for environmentally and socially damaging biofuels – demand which has prompted some 17 million hectares, equal to almost the entire agricultural area of Germany, to be grabbed from local populations over the past decade, says GRAIN.

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Agrofuels are worsening climate change, threatening people's food security, driving land grabs, and destroying forests and other crucial ecosystems.
Friends of the Earth Europe campaigns to stop Europe's drive for agrofuels, and expose their real social and environmental costs. We campaign for proper carbon accounting, and the scrapping of targets and subsidies for agrofuels in Europe.

Reports & publications

1 Jun 2011

Flying in the face of the facts: greenwashing the aviation industry with biofuels

1 Dec 2010

Jatropha: Money doesn't grow on trees

More reports & publications

For enquiries please contact:

  • Robbie Blake
    • Agriculture

      Food and farming in Europe and its global impacts

    • Agrofuels

      Plant-based fuels from agriculture. Also known as biofuels

    • Biodiversity

      Species and habitat protection in Europe and around the globe

    • GMOs

      Genetically modified crops and organisms

    • Land

      Measuring Europe’s land footprint and tackling the drivers of land grabbing

    • Biodiversity

      Species and habitat protection in Europe and around the globe

    • Extractive industries

      Oil and gas exploration, and mining

    • Land

      Measuring Europe’s land footprint and tackling the drivers of land grabbing

    • Materials and waste

      Reducing, reusing and recycling resources

    • Resource use

      Europe’s consumption of land, materials, water and carbon

    • Shale gas

      Unconventional gas and the extraction process known as ‘fracking’

    • Tar sands

      Unconventional oil. Also known as oil sands

    • Water use

      Measuring Europe’s water footprint