Food goes into people, not cars

Many will have noted the insistences that the Ukraine and Russia events are leading to a significant rise in the price of food and the possibility of shortages out there. There is indeed talk of famine rearing its ghastly head again as a result.

At which point, why are we putting food into cars?

Europe burns over 17,000 tonnes of rapeseed and sunflower oil every day – the equivalent of 19 million bottles[1] – a new Transport & Environment study shows. This has contributed to spiralling food price rises as well as empty supermarket shelves in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. T&E has called on governments to prioritise food over fuel and end the use of crop biofuels now.

It does seem somewhere between odd and vile, doesn’t it? It’s not even as if it reduces CO2 emissions given that most analyses show that the crops require about as much to be grown as is supposedly saved.

We could also point out that this is a long running schema:

The 10% target was included in the 2009 RED that mandated EU member states pass laws to boost renewable energy use within power generation and transportation.

It used to be only 5%, now that 10% target has recently been reached. And yes, it gets worse:

The next phase of RED will target 27-29% of renewables in transportation by 2030.

Food goes into people, not cars.

The base and important lesson of both the Stern Review and William Nordhaus’ work on climate change is that whatever we do don’t, just don’t, let the idiots try to plan things. Set prices and leave markets to do the work.

So, that’s working well then, isn’t it?