Charity organisation claims say biofuel eating into food supply

A pressure group has claimed that up to 100m people could face food shortages if the EU maintains its policy of increasing the percentage of petrol and diesel coming from biofuel sources.
This claim came from the charity ActionAid, but has been rejected by the European Commission. According to the charity, the goal of 10 per cent biofuel inclusion by 2020 will mean importing either the feedstock or the final product, meaning land will be diverted from food to produce biofuels. ActionAid says that for every one per cent rise in food prices an additional 16m people will go hungry. Commission policy is now being deemed misguided by bodies as diverse as food aid charities, green groups and the oil industry.

Commission – nitrate pollution must be reduced

The European Commission says more effort must be applied to reducing nitrate pollution across the EU.
It says progress has been made, in the shape of steadily falling pollution levels, but it has highlighted continuing problems in some Member States. The new Environment Commissioner, Janez Potoenik, described safeguarding water quality as a top priority. “Farmers have worked hard but in some regions meeting EU water quality standards remains a serious and continuing challenge, he said. Nitrate levels fell at 70 per cent of monitored sites.