Reuters published an article stating that officials from some G7 countries, including Germany and Britain, will push for temporary waivers on biofuels mandates to combat soaring food prices when leaders from the group of wealthy nations meet on Sunday. Grain and vegetable oil crops could be diverted from fuel use to help address the global food crisis, but many governments have laws requiring the production of biofuels, partly to help support local farmers and meet emissions reduction targets.
Senior research fellow Joseph Glauber said, “These regulations really do need an off-ramp during times of high food prices. A waiver on biofuel mandates could help bring down food prices although it might make fuel prices slightly higher in some countries,’ he added. “That waiver is not expected to have much impact on the U.S. industry as corn-based ethanol is more competitive than biofuel produced elsewhere in the world, but such a move would have a greater impact in Europe,” said Glauber. A summary was published in Biofuel Digest.