NGOs to demonstrate in Brussels to demand European lawmakers choose food over fuel

Leading NGOs including Oxfam, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, and Transport & Environment will protest tomorrow morning outside the European Parliament under the hashtag #FoodNotFuel. The protest calls on European lawmakers to stop incentivizing the burning of crops for fuel - a practice that is contributing to the global food crisis.

Starting at 08:00 in front of the European Parliament on Place Luxembourg, the joint action will visualize the absurdity of burning food crops for fuel. The action is backed by a number of NGOs from across Europe.

Growing crops for biofuels uses vast areas of land around the globe. This drives deforestation, pushes local communities off their land, fuels the climate crisis, and contributes to global hunger. 

Food prices, already worryingly high before, skyrocketed due to the Ukraine war. Record droughts across Europe and other parts of the world will only add to the crisis. This is pushing millions more people to the brink of starvation and many more into severe food poverty.

Despite this, Europe burns the equivalent of 15 million loaves of bread and 19 million bottles of sunflower and rapeseed oil every single day to fuel their cars and trucks. The NGOs call on Europe’s lawmakers to end the use of crop biofuels when they vote on the new Renewable Energy Directive (RED) in the European Parliament on 13 September. 

Marc-Olivier Herman, Economic Justice Expert at Oxfam: ‘‘The EU talks big on food security and ending global hunger. Yet it continues to promote burning food to fuel cars. This not only wreaks havoc on global food markets by pushing up food prices but also does nothing to green Europe's transport. We have seen hunger skyrocket this year with millions of people being pushed to the brink of starvation. MEPs have an opportunity to end this madness by voting to scrap support for these types of fuels made from crops.” 

Dr. Johanna Büchler, Senior Expert for Transport and Climate at Deutsche Umwelthilfe: “Burning food in cars is an all-round terrible idea: it means millions of hectares of additional intensive agriculture and it fuels the food crisis, the climate crisis, and the biodiversity crisis all at the same time. EU lawmakers urgently need to stop rewarding this fake “green” technology through the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive. We need our land to grow food for people and restore natural ecosystems.”

Maik Marahrens, Senior Campaign Manager Biofuels & Energie at T&E: “We cannot be burning food for fuel, even more so in times of hunger. If Europe alone were to release the food grains it burns for biofuels to the global market, we could feed millions of people. Europe’s lawmakers have a chance to stop this when the European Parliament convenes in September. The world is watching.”