Bioenergy in Europe: experiences and prospects

Dec 2006

Although Europe is a relatively small producer of ethanol (2.6 percent of world production in 2005), it produces a sizable share of the world’s biodiesel (88 percent of world production in 2005). Production started in the early 1990s (well after Brazil and the United States), when revisions to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) first allowed farmers to grow non-food crops for income on set-aside land. Germany began to produce biodiesel from rapeseed, while France undertook production of bioethanol from sugar beet and wheat. Today, Germany is the world’s largest biodiesel producer, with a total existing capacity of more than 2 million metric tons per year, representing more than 5 percent of domestic diesel demand.
By 2010, the European Union (EU) plans to have doubled the share of renewable energy in its primary energy consumption to 12 percent. This goal includes increasing the share of biofuels from 2 percent of total transport fuel today to 5.75 percent by 2010, as well as making significant increases in the use of biomass in electricity generation. The biofuels target will require an annual production of about 5–6 billion liters of bioethanol and biodiesel. EU member states have already implemented relevant policies. For example, to achieve the biofuels target, 11 member states have implemented tax reductions as their main policy instrument, nine are using incentives for research and development, five are using mandatory blending requirements, and two are using investment subsidies.

By: O. Henniges, J. Zeddies (International Food Policy Research Institute)

 
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