Fuelling the biofuels debate

According to reports in a variety of news outlets over the weekend Nestle, in the form of its CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, said that planned subsidies for biofuels were irresponsible and immoral and would lead to higher prices for food staples, including maize, soya and wheat (Swiss Info, Nestlé boss warns against promoting biofuels).

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s always good to see large multi nationals taking the leadership role and setting an example for others to follow. However, I might be more impressed if this didn’t seem to be more about Nestle’s profits than an ethical stance on subsidised biofuels. Brabeck-Letmathe was certainly being disingenuous when he linked the subsidies for biofuels as the only reason for higher prices for agricultural products. Previous peaks in wheat prices in 1981, 83 and 95, all of which exceeded today’s price (USDA figures), were not due to biofuels, and did not create a food crisis.

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I was reminded of William Booth’s, founder of the Salvation Army, words (see the headline) during the World Biofuels Markets event in Brussels last week when one despairing industry figure said he was really “pissed off” about the coverage of biofuels in the general media. His frustration was palpable. However, the industry, perhaps lured by the initial warm reception of biofuels by the media, has never really engaged in terms of addressing the publicity deficit.

Talking to several delegates at World Biofuels it became apparent that generally the feeling was that a straight presentation of the facts would in most cases sort out the publicity deficit and that the media balance would be restored. In part, a very small part, they are correct. There is a huge amount of touchy feely ’science’ that is paraded as fact, which does need correcting. But where the industry really looses out in the media game is in the presentation, the spin of the story. In short the tune!
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Apparently Willie Walsh’s accusation that Virgin’s foray into biofuels, (Virgin’s biofuel is a PR stunt says BA boss), was little more than a PR stunt has prompted Sir Richard Branson into a response (British Airways has no environmental strategy – we do), in today’s Guardian. He was scathing about Walsh’s stance. “Sniping from the sidelines is not the answer to climate change. If Walsh, who’s clearly used to being handed solutions on a plate, had his way the industry would go backwards. We need everyone to take action now”, said Branson.

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Biofuels for civil aviation is currently receiving substantial mileage in the general media. There was a distinct feeding frenzy, in the non specialist media, when Richard Branson’s Virgin group flew a 747 between London and Amsterdam, last month, using biofuels in one of its four tanks. (see Biofuel Review story)

The move was swiftly followed by last week’s announcement by US carrier Continental, that it too was going to conduct a biofuel test early next year, and this week The National Business Review in New Zealand unveiled that Air New Zealand was looking at an algae based fuel to test.

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Oh dear the European political machine seems to have got itself in a frightful muddle over its policy on biofuels. Caught in the headlights of a press conference last week (13th March) Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa is quoted as saying about biofuels that; “We’re not excluding the possibility that we’ll have to amend or revise our goals.” He was speaking at the opening day of the EU’s annual summit, as Slovenia is currently the holder of the EU’s 6 monthly revolving presidency.

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