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Biofuels from food crops bugs VW

James Mackintosh, London
September 09, 2006

VOLKSWAGEN has attacked biofuels made from food crops as unsustainable, setting the German car maker at odds with US President George Bush, US car makers and European governments, which have all been touting ethanol as an environmentally friendly alternative to petrol in cars.
Bernd Pischetsrieder, chief executive, called on politicians to lower tax breaks for current "first-generation" fuels - made in the US and Europe from corn, wheat, rape seed and sugar beet - and instead provide financial support for new second-generation technologies that promise big cuts in carbon dioxide (CO2).

Mr Pischetsrieder said some of the current biofuels were "totally pointless" and "like a wolf in sheep's clothing".

He criticised tax benefits that were not linked to carbon dioxide, since some methods of refining biofuel actually led to higher carbon emissions than from petrol.

"The current situation is totally unsatisfactory, both from the environmental and economic standpoint," he said.

Even as Mr Pischetsrieder was speaking in Berlin, the US Environmental Protection Agency proposed an increase to renewable fuel requirements - mainly ethanol - from 2.78 per cent of all fuel this year to 3.71 per cent next year, and said it would help cut CO2 emissions.

Mr Pischetsrieder is the highest profile opponent of today's biofuel technology.

The handful of opponents of the fuel in the environmental movement have mostly been concerned about increased leakage of carcinogenic fumes, development of monoculture farms and the danger to rainforests from new palm plantations in developing countries, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia.

Soaring demand for biofuels has contributed to a surge in the price of several of the grains and oilseeds used to make ethanol and biodiesel.

US car makers have been strongly supportive of biofuels, running expensive ad campaigns in an attempt to win back customers concerned about the environment who had defected to Japanese rivals.

General Motors and Ford argue that even though the carbon benefits of today's technology are small, and biofuel is more expensive per mile than petrol even with tax breaks, the fuel should be promoted by governments in order to ensure the market is prepared when new technologies arrive.