(Bio)Fueling Injustice? - Europafrica

To summarise, the EU and its Member States are strongly influencing the global
development of biofuels not only with the RED, but also though a broad range of
instruments, which support a comprehensive biofuel strategy.
3.3. Other actors involved in promoting agrofuels in the EU
or for the EU
In addition to the EU and EU Member States, a number of other actors are shaping the
production of agrofuels in connexion with the EU. International institutions can play
an important role in supporting agrofuels’ production in the EU or for the EU market.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for instance supports a
number of biofuels project in Eastern and Central Europe. 95 Bilateral and multilateral
development institutions, including the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) to which the EU or its Member States are parties (and have
substantial voting shares), and national development agencies, are further paving the
way for biofuel investments by promoting a formalisation, privatisation, and
liberalisation of land property systems, as well as by directly financing biofuels. 96
European businesses are instrumental to the promotion of agrofuels, in at least two
ways. First, business interests have participated to orientate the EU’s biofuels policy,
in particular through the European Biofuel Technology Platform (EBFTP). This entity,
which succeeded in 2006 to a biofuel research council created by the European
Commission, is composed essentially of big businesses (such as Neste Oil, Airbus,
Total, Volkswagen), and lobbies to influence European policies to promote biofuels, as
it notably did for the RED. 97 Second, the EU is the world’s biggest producer and
consumer of biodiesel, and some of the biggest agrofuel companies in the world are
based in the EU. 98
Furthermore, many European financial institutions substantially finance agrofuel
projects and companies worldwide. For example, the Deutsche Bank finances Cresud,
Sao Martinho SA and Brasil Ecodiesel, some of the world’s largest agrofuel
companies. 99 Multiple reports highlight how investments in land and biofuels are
increasingly managed by a wide variety of financial structures like private equity funds,
hedge funds, REIT’s (Real Estate Investment Trusts) or mutual funds. 100 Apart from
European banks, other European actors like pension funds and insurance companies
are emerging as key financers, including Rabobank, WestLB, Banco Popular, HSBC,
and RBS. 101
Finally, developing countries, and in particular African countries themselves largely
participate to encourage investments in agrofuels. The possibility to easily attract
investment thanks to the biofuel boom has appealed to many African governments,
which have created specific policies aimed at promoting biofuels. 102 The Ethiopian
government for instance prepared in 2007 a “Biofuel Development and Utilisation
Strategy” in which it identified 23.3 million hectares of land that could be used for
biofuel development (about 20% of the country), and aimed at increasing its
production, including for export. 103 And even though some countries like Tanzania or
Swaziland have partly renounced to their biofuel policies, it would be more than thirty
African countries that remain committed to promote biofuels. 104 Thus, in 2006, under
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