Human rights Professor Simon Caney Professor in Political Theory, Department of Politics and International Relations, and Magdalen College, University of Oxford

Principle 1: Human rights Biofuels development should not be at the expense of people’s essential rights (including access to sufficient food and water, health rights, work rights and land entitlements)

The current situation Target-based policies encourage rapid production of biofuels Reported problems include: Local food shortages and price spikes Displacement of indigenous populations from their land Poor working conditions However Employment opportunities Local energy sources in ‘fuel poor’ areas

Recent progress 23 March Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels certification scheme announced: “Biofuels shall not be at the expense of human rights, including food security” Renewable Energy Directive includes a commitment to monitoring human rights UK has developed social sustainability standards (however, RTFO-Meta Standard lacks mention of protecting food security)

Challenges for the future Will voluntary schemes be enough? Complex relationship between world food supply and hunger Policies to support small-scale local production are important

Recommendations Biofuels policy targets should set out to avoid incentivising human rights abuses Monitoring systems to protect human rights abuses A compulsory certification scheme similar to the one proposed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels