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Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations Order 2007

My Lords, we support enthusiastically and want to see as much biofuel use as possible. It is very important that we reduce carbon emissions and move to different forms of energy, whether it is fuel used in vehicles or electricity or whatever it is. However, we have considerable doubts about the order, and I shall pose some questions to the Minister about the ability to achieve the sort of targets that the Government are setting. At the moment, biofuels account for about 0.6 per cent of fuel that is used. The suggestion is that it could go up to 2.5 per cent in about a year and to 5 per cent by 2010. Those are very laudable objectives but I shall pose some questions as to whether they can be achieved. I am involved a lot in my local government capacity in how we can get rid of waste and use waste as energy, as well as how we can encourage farmers, and others, to produce bio-products that might produce energy. Over the past few months, I have done a lot of work on that; in fact, I visited a plant in Germany only two weeks ago that is using agricultural bio-products to produce biofuels. However, coming from a farming background myself, I have seen a dramatic turnaround in the price of corn cereals. I do not benefit from it because I do not farm now, but a lot of those who do farm have seen a considerable increase in the price in the past 12 months. Members of my family—cousins in Norfolk—who were going to produce wheat for biofuels are not doing so because the price that the contractors are able to offer in using wheat to produce biofuels is just not plausible now. In fact, the price of cereals for other consumption has doubled in the year and the contracts that were around to produce biofuels have fallen by the wayside. That is just one problem. There is also the dilemma of using wheat or corn to produce biofuels given the problems of starvation and food shortages throughout the world. The United Nations recently came out against the use of corn to produce biofuels. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, stated: "““232kg of corn is needed to make 50 litres of bioethanol. A child could live on that amount of corn for a year. It’s a total disaster for those who are starving””." The very learned Professor Brown claims that the grain it takes to fill a 25-gallon tank with ethanol just once would feed one person for a whole year. There is a move to remove some of the trade barriers around the world so that cereals can be traded more freely. One is very concerned about the world’s starving people. Five years ago when people began to talk about using cereals and corn to produce fuel, I had doubts about it. More and more doubts are coming to the fore about whether, in order to create fuel, we should use stuff that could be fed to starving people. If we are not going to use cereals and wheat to produce biofuels, will we then chop down the remaining forests of the world to produce them? There is a real problem as to how we shall tackle this matter. I should like the Minister to comment on that. Although we all want to reach the target, we need to encourage people to produce new crops to achieve it. I believe that miscanthus grass could be harvested to produce these fuels. However, that will not happen in one or two years; a sustained campaign is needed to encourage people to grow these new crops. The farm that I visited in Germany produced sunflowers, which can be grown at various altitudes without ripening and used to produce biofuels. However, we are not yet ready for that. Therefore, some of the targets will be difficult to achieve. I certainly cannot support the idea of using a lot of corn that could be fed to starving people. This matter will be debated in the Commons tomorrow and my colleagues there may address it more robustly than I have done. I shall certainly not vote against the measure, but I have considerable doubts about it. I have one or two questions for the Minister. Does he accept that the Government’s refusal to commit to maintaining the 20p tax break beyond 2009 will not ease the business climate because we need investors in this area? If we are to grow new crops and implement new initiatives, we need the security of a long-term plan. If biodiesel plants are to be built, investors need a longer-term commitment on the tax regime beyond 2009. I hope that the Minister will address that. As well as looking at the use of biofuels, which is very important, will the Government also support vehicle manufacturers to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles, thus reducing the aggregate consumption? Improving fuel consumption by 5 per cent would do a lot to reduce carbon emissions, so we should also look at that. Sometimes the whole-life impact of vehicles is important as regards carbon usage. For example, a recent study found that a four-litre V8 Jeep Wrangler had less of an overall environmental impact than a lot of dual-power vehicles being used. Therefore, there are various other ways to tackle this matter. I hope that the Minister will comment on that. As I say, I have doubts about the order. I totally support the concept behind it but I have doubts about our ability to deliver its requirements. How can the Government help to encourage the production of more biofuels in the way that I described?