Industrial biofuels - fuels made on an industrial scale from agricultural crops - have been put forward as an answer to energy security, climate change and rural development. ActionAid believes they are unlikely to be the solution to any of these challenges.

In fact they have been a major cause of the food and hunger crisis, which is set to get worse.

Industrial biofuels are currently made from maize, wheat, sugar cane and oil seeds such as palm oil, soy and rapeseed. The rapidly rising demand for crops for fuel has put them into competition with those grown for food, driving food prices higher and affecting what and how much people eat in developing countries. This is a significant issue in a world where a billion people are already going hungry.