Report on the Ethical Issues of Current Biofuel Policies

A report by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics analyzes current biofuel policies and puts up an ethical framework to guide policy making for both current and future biofuels. According to the report, some present biofuel policies in the United Kingdom and in Europe are "weak when it comes to protecting the environment, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and avoiding human rights violations in developing countries". In the development of new biofuel technologies, few incentives to avoid these problems are also been observed. Strategies which consider the wider impacts of biofuel production (i.e. deforestation) would be helpful. Research and development into more "ethical types of biofuels" are also encouraged.

The report recommends that "there should be a set of overarching ethical conditions for all biofuels produced in and imported into Europe". These conditions include the following: (1) consideration of human rights in biofuels development, (2) good environmental sustainability biofuels, (3) significant contribution for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, (4) adherence to fair trade principles, (5) equitable distribution of costs and benefits of biofuels. The use of some kind of "certification scheme" (similar to the "Fair Trade Scheme" for cocoa and coffee) to enforce the above conditions was also suggested.

The full report can be accessed at the Nuffield Foundation website (URL above).