G8 summit must focus on biofuel policies, says IPCC

The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has hoped that the ongoing G8 Summit in Japan would address the issue of biofuel policies, including subsidy that was contributing to the rising food prices, which could push an additional 100 million people into poverty.

Talking to journalists here on Tuesday, IPCC chairperson R. K. Pachauri said subsidies on grain and oil seed biofuels was making farmers shift from growing food grains to biofuel plantation, leaving millions hungry. Unbalanced policies disproportionately burden the poor and the G8 should tackle the interconnected challenges of climate change, food prices and development, he said.

According to Dr. Pachauri, subsidies on ethanol and palm oil had brought in distortions. Not only “food was being converted into fuel,” but also forests were being cleared for growing crops to produce ethanol and palm oil, he said. Governments should promote Jatropha plantation on wasteland so that there was no conflict with food production.

Advocating the removal of subsidy on kerosene, Dr. Pachauri said it made no sense in the wake of such high oil prices as it was being used for adulteration and black-marketing.
Emission reduction

Seeking a clear statement from the developed countries on emission reduction and their willingness to take action, Dr. Pachauri said that on India’s part, implementation of the national action plan on climate change would be the right path.

The release of action plan comes at a critical juncture, where society was grappling with growing problems of declining food security and high food process, unprecedented global process of crude oil and the threat of climate change, which had the potential to exacerbate some of these conditions, he said.

“Operationalising the action plan, however, provides significant challenges for allocations of resources and effective implementation, and specific policies under the plan need to be formulated with care to ensure their efficacy.”

But, a key aspect of promoting renewable energy was to divert resources allocated to subsidies for non-renewable fuel, particularly if they were being misused. Kerosene subsidies, while having aided the poor to obtain lighting in the past, were not only incompatible with a climate change mitigation policy, but also becoming exorbitant in terms of social costs because of the rising fuel prices, he said.

Greenpeace has called upon the G8 to take action on climate change. By adopting binding emission reduction targets and investing in an energy revolution based on real solutions – a switch to renewable energies and massive increase in efficiency – the G8 would give a constructive response to rocketing oil prices and finally tackle climate change, it said.

“The food crisis can only be resolved by addressing the core causes behind it. The G8 must shift investments to ecological methods that provide higher yields, better food and more resilience to climate change.”