EU Stance on Bioenergy Risks Nature Restoration, Food Security

A group of scientists have written to EU member states and MEPs, urging them to amend current bioenergy provisions in the Fit for 55 (Ff55) legislation. They warned that current measures would “undermine increased carbon storage and biodiversity in Europe” by causing more deforestation and unsustainable land use. The Ff55 plan projects that crops grown for biomass will occupy 22 million hectares in Europe, which is roughly a fifth of Europe’s available cropland, therefore competing with land for Europe’s food production and restoration of nature. The group wrote: “The world’s present food crisis is a reminder that land is precious and in increasingly short supply. Europe should not aim to divert vast parts of the world’s cropland to energy crops, to harvest and burn more of the world’s forests, nor undermine the goals of storing more carbon and improving biodiversity both within Europe and globally.” 

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