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"gewg_" writes:

Inter Press Service reports

Ten years of debate in the European Union over the detrimental effects of the demand for biofuels for transport on food prices, hunger, forest destruction, land consumption, and climate change have come to an end.

The European Parliament finally agreed [to] new E.U. laws on Apr. 28 [which will] limit the use of crop-based biofuels, setting a limit on the quantity of biofuels that can be used to meet E.U. energy targets.

With Europe the world's biggest user and importer of biodiesel--from crops such as palm oil, soy, and rapeseed--the vote is expected to have a major impact around the world, notably in the European Union's main international supplier countries Indonesia, Malaysia, and Argentina. It is likely to signal the end to the expanding use of food crops for transport fuel.

[...]With the vote, the European Union has agreed to put a limit on biofuels from agricultural crops at seven percent of E.U. transport energy--with an option for member states to go lower. Before the vote, the expected "business as usual" scenario was for biofuels to account for 8.6 percent of E.U. transport energy by 2020. Current usage (PDF) stands at 4.7 percent, having declined in 2013.