In Washington, a group of Finance ministers at World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings exchanged sharp words over biofuels as food riots continue to erupt in Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Ethiopia, and troops are guarding food stocks in Pakistan and Thailand. “It’s a crime against humanity that food should be diverted to biofuels,” said India’s finance minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, while the chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality said biofuels are only a part of the food price equation.
Entry Information
Related Stories
World Bank “secret report” blaming biofuels identified as “working paper”; errors in Guardian story revealedA World Bank "secret report", which blamed biofuels for a 75 percent increase in food prices, has been characterized by Bank officials as a "working paper" that was considered along with other working...
India to re-examine national biofuels policyIn India, prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh referred the draft national biofuel policy back to a Group of Ministers committee headed by Sharad Pawar, after warning that the new policy may fail because...
Thai PM strikes at UN, World Bank for bashing biofuels, sparing oil producing nations, for role in food price risesIn Thailand, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said the World Bank and the United Nations are criticizing biofuels exporting nations for driving up food prices, but not saying a word about the role of o...
Today in Biofuels Opinion: NY Times corrects, says poor countries, not G8 finance ministers, criticized Western biofuels policyThe New York Times corrected its major article on Western biofuel policy: "Because of an editing error, an article on Tuesday about the effect of biofuels on the price of food misidentified the repres...
Today in Biofuels Opinion: “The rush into ethanol has been a serious misstep”Peter Schrum, President of the German Renewable Fuel Association: "In 1980, world prices for grain were on the same level as it is today. Why? Starting in the 1970s, farmers were paid direct payments,...
Indian biodiesel policy imminent; B5 mandate, 1.3 billion gallon market expected as ministers conveneIn India, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar will convene a Group of Ministers meeting aimed at making a decision on India's biodiesel policy. Observers expect that a Biodiesel Board will be establishe...
