Italy today become the first European Union member to publicly call for a review of EU plans to get 10 per cent of its transport fuel from renewable sources such as biofuels.
Biofuels have come under attack by many scientists and environmental groups who contend that their production has depleted rainforests, contributed to rising food prices and failed to save substantial greenhouse gas emissions.
"Europe has to be realistic. We must be realistic," Italian Economic Development Minister Claudio Scajola said on the margins of a meeting of EU energy ministers. "We took with too much haste the decision on an objective that is not reachable," he added.
Other states have raised concerns about biofuels, but Italy was the first to call openly for an EU review.
A paper circulated by the Slovenian EU presidency a few days before the meeting in Luxembourg showed member states remained a long way from agreeing rules to prevent fuels such as biodiesel doing more harm than good in fighting climate change.
While no member state has yet proposed dropping the goal of securing 10 percent of transport fuel from renewable sources such as biofuels by 2020, many want to make the binding nature of this target conditional on strict standards.
These include rules on the environmental and social impact of existing crop-based fuels and making the goal dependent on the commercial availability of second-generation biofuels from plant waste, algae and other non-food materials.
Britain has also raised concerns about the EU 10 percent target, and is close to concluding a review of the knock-on effects of biofuels.