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Agrofuels and oil palm plantations

The promotion of agrofuels as a form of renewable energy is proving to be one of the European Union’s biggest policy mistakes.

EU agrofuels policies are aggravating climate change. They have become a key driver of forest and biodiversity loss, land-grabs and conflicts, and human rights abuses in producer countries such as Indonesia. Increasingly, agricultural land needed to produce food is being reallocated to grow crops for agrofuels to fuel cars rather than to feed hungry people. [more]

Urgent call to fix biofuels policy - sample letter

Contact details used in this sample letter are for UK Ministers. Please go to your country's parliamentary website for contact details of your energy, environment or transport ministers working on biofuels policy.

Urgent Agrofuels Action: Write to your MEPs!

Thank you for visiting this page. The vote has now passed but the campaign is not over! Please contact Clare McVeigh at dteproguk@gn.apc.org to find out how you can help to bring an end to bad agrofules. For a summary of how our MEPs voted and our response, please go to http://www.downtoearth-indonesia.org/story/europes-agrofuels-vote-fails-food-sovereignty-rights-and-climate

DTE urges MEPs to consider people and planet in crucial agrofuels vote

The following letter was sent to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who are members of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI Committee). For background see our agrofuels and oil palm plantations campaign page.

July 9th, 2013

Dear ENVI Committee Members,

UK Minister's reply to DTE letter on palm oil electricity subsidies

Letter from John Hayes MP, Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, London, dated 22 March 2013 in response to DTE letter dated 4 February to Ed Davey.

DTE calls on UK to drop palm oil electricity subsidies

The following DTE letter urges the UK energy secretary to exclude palm oil and other 'bioliquids' from the government's renewable electricity generation incentive scheme.

EU: don't bow to agrofuel industry lobby! - DTE urges Commission

DTE Letter to European Commission, 16th October 2012

 

Dear President Barroso,

Down to Earth (DTE) works with partners internationally to promote climate justice and sustainable livelihoods in Indonesia. We are deeply concerned to learn that the Commission’s potentially good amendments to flawed EU agrofuels policy could be weakened due to pressure from the industrial lobby. 

Open Letter to European Commissioners
An open letter signed by over100 NGOs worldwide and sent on April 27th to all European Commissioners in advance of EU discussions on Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) on 2nd May.