The European Commission rejected Monday charges that EU biofuel policy was contributing to soaring food prices but confirmed that it will trim its targets for their use.
Biofuels were once seen as a potential source of cheap alternative energy but critics say they are often based on food crops or use land that could and should be used for food production, helping drive prices higher.
"It is wrong to believe that we are pushing food-based biofuels," Gunther Oettinger and Connie Hedegaard, Commissioners for Energy and Climate Change, said in a statement.
"In our upcoming proposal ... we do exactly the contrary: We limit them to the current consumption level, that is 5.0 percent up to 2020," they said.
For post 2020, "our clear preference are biofuels produced from non-food feedstocks, like waste or agricultural residues such as straw.
"These new type of biofuels are not in competition with food, nor do they require additional ...