September 11, 2007 (LPAC)--A new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperaton and Development (OECD) calls on governments to scrap subsidies for biofuels, given the harmful impact bio-energy production is having in pushing up farm commodity and food prices, and on the environment. The report is under discussion today and tomorrow in Paris, at a forum on "sustainable" development, attended by government ministers from a dozen nations, including the United States. A record 20-plus percent of the current U.S. corn crop is going to ethanol.

"The current push to expand the use of biofuels is creating unsustainable tensions that will disrupt markets without generating significant environmental benefits" says the study, copies of which were obtained in advance by the World Bank, the Financial Times and other media.

The OECD recommendation for ending biofuels subsidies runs counter to the target set in February by the European Union, for achieving a 10 percent share of all EU transportation energy to come from biofuels by 2020. Soaring food prices internationally have called this into question. The OECD states it: "To harness the real potential of bio-energy and biofuels, an important shift in current expectations and policies is necessary."

However, the OECD, while noting the damage from large scale grain-for-ethanol, sticks to biofoolish thinking of all kinds, instead of turning to the obvious modern solution--nuclear power.

The new study approves three types of bio-inputs for alternatives to petroleum-based fuels: Brazilian sugar cane gasohol, used-vegetable oils for blended bio-diesel, and by-products from paper-making. The OECD advises governments to end their tariffs on imports of such fuels from Brazil, and various tropical countries, where they assert it is "economical" to produce biofuels compared to temperate climates.

And the OECD advises governments to take the funds they save from ending biofuels subsidies, and re-deploying that money into R&D for so-called "second generation" bio-fuels made from bio-wastes. They also call for carbon taxing, so the "market" can find the best ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "As long as environmental values are not adequately priced in the market, there will be powerful incentives to replace natural eco-systems such as forests, wetlands and pasture with dedicated bio-energy crops."