Environmental News: GM boss rejects biofuel link to rising food prices.
General Motors boss Rick Wagoner has rejected United Nations research that links biofuel production to rising food prices as 'shockingly misinformed'.
His comments follows growing concern that the shift to biofuels has brought with it social and environmental costs including a negative impact on food production. The UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation has linked biofuels production to the rise in world food prices.
However, Wagoner said: 'Oil prices are a far bigger driver of higher food prices than ethanol.'
GM produces about a million flex-fuel vehicles that can use biofuel in the US each year, while its Saab brand is a leading proponent of biofuels in Europe.
The European Union is set to re-evaluate plans to use up to 10% biofuels in all transport fuels, as a result of concerns about its impact on the environment. Gordon Brown, meanwhile, has stated that the UK would reconsider how far it was prepared to sign up to proposals for a tenfold increase in the use of biofuels by 2020.
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