Essex biofuel depot blockaded

A biofuel depot in Essex was blockaded by campaigners who claim that biofuels are responsible for global food price rises and could actually accelerate climate change.

Protesters targeted the Vopak depot in Thurrock, Essex, which is the biggesd biofuel depot in the country.

The campaigners based at the week-long protest camp at the E.on power station in Kingsnorth kent, lay across the road, unfurled a 12-metre banner and chained themselves to a fuel storage tank.

One of the protesters Julia Brownlow said: "Agrofuels are destroying the very ecosystems which can stabilise the climate - with the collapse of the Amazon possibly just a few years away I am left with no choice but to take action."

The action on biofuels follows the World Bank report that stated that farmers shifting production to provide biofuel manufacturers with feedstock – or raw material – was responsible for 70 per cent of the massive global food price rises.

Research is currently focusing on so-called second generation biofuels which are based on non-food feedstock. One possibility is generating fuel from algae, while others are working on fuel from organic waste.