Use of jatropha oil to produce biofuels

17.5.2011

Question for written answer E-005121/2011
to the Commission
Rule 117
Giancarlo Scottà (EFD)

Jatropha oil is a potentially valuable alternative feedstock for biofuel production, as the plant from which it is produced can be grown on semi-desert land and plantations live more than 50 years.

Energy generation using plant-based renewable biofuels is an area in which many European countries are carrying out projects that could bring numerous benefits to disadvantaged countries in Africa and elsewhere.

A number of African countries would stand to gain in several ways. The prospects are attractive in Senegal, for example, which has the right conditions for biofuel crops and could benefit to the extent that it could attract foreign investment, reclaim abandoned desert and semi-desert land (not cultivable for any other purpose), establish vast wooded areas that would be able to alter and temper local microclimates, create secure, permanent jobs and set up infrastructure, draw on transferred knowledge, skills and technologies that would lend themselves to other applications in the future, and generate energy from its own new power plants to meet local demand.

To which sectors in Senegal will the Commission make a contribution? What biofuel production projects could be supported by European funding? Does the Commission believe that biofuel production in Senegal should be encouraged? If so, will invitations to tender be issued to that end?

OJ C 365 E, 15/12/2011