Oxfam has joined the growing list of organizations criticizing the latest rush to grow biofuels.
The EU wants to cut the CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels and has demanded that 10% of all transport fuels should come from plants by 2020.
But Oxfam warns poor farmers risk being forced off their land as industrial farmers cash in on the biofuel bonanza. Its report says to meet the rise in demand, the EU will have to import biofuels made from crops like sugar cane and palm oil from developing countries.
Robert Bailey, a policy advisor at Oxfam, said: “In the scramble to supply the EU and the rest of the world with biofuels, poor people are getting trampled. The EU proposals will exacerbate the problem. It is unacceptable that poor people in developing countries should bear the cost of questionable attempts to cut emissions in Europe.”