| European Parliament approves new law to cap first generation biofuels
The European Parliament approved last April a draft law to cap food crop-derived biofuel consumption and accelerate the shift to alternative sources. Current legislation requires EU member states to ensure that renewable energy accounts for at least 10% of energy consumption in transport by 2020. The new law says that first-generation biofuels (from food crops grown on agricultural land) should account for no more than 7% of energy consumption in transport by 2020. The intent of the new law is to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by the growing use of farm land for biofuel crops (indirect land-use change, - ILUC)
The new law requires fuel suppliers to report to EU countries and the EU Commission the estimated level of GHG emissions caused by ILUC. Further, the European Commission must report and publish data on ILUC-related emissions, and the Commission must report back to the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers on the scope for including ILUC emission figures in the existing sustainability criteria. EU member states will have to set a national target, no later than 18 months after the EU directive enters into force, for the share of advanced biofuels, e.g. those sourced from certain types of waste and residues and new sources such as seaweed, in total transport consumption.
This new legislation comes at the end of a long path covered by the European Union since 2003, when it established a biofuels support policy, primarily with the aim of lowering carbon emissions in the transport sector. In 2009, as part of the 2020 climate and energy strategy, a double target was set for 2020: 10% share for renewable energy (essentially biofuels) in the transport sector, introduced by the Renewable Energy Directive, and a 6% reduction in the greenhouse gas intensity of fuels used in road transport and non-road mobile machinery, introduced by a revision of the Fuel Quality Directive. Many actors, including the European Parliament, criticized this policy for not taking into account greenhouse gas emissions associated with indirect land use change (ILUC). Concerns were also raised about the impact of EU biofuels policy on food security in developing countries, on biodiversity and on the environment in general.
In October 2012, the European Commission presented a legislative proposal introducing several changes: limiting to five percentage points the share of crop-derived biofuels that can be included in the 10% renewable energy target for transport, to be reached by 2020; promoting advanced biofuels (produced mainly from waste and residues) by counting their contribution towards the 10% target multiple times; and introducing reporting of estimated emissions caused by indirect land use change. At the end of an intense debate on the Commission’s proposal, last April a compromise was reached that limits to 7% the share of biofuels from food crops grown on agricultural land that can be counted towards the 10% renewable energy target in transport, while allowing Member States to set lower national limits. The compromise also sets an indicative 0.5% target for advanced biofuels, the contribution of which would count double towards the 10% renewable energy target for transport (but not towards the 2020 overall 20% renewable energy target). The estimated ILUC emissions would have to be included by fuel suppliers in their reporting on the fuels they place on the EU market. Member states must now enact the legislation by 2017.
Read the European Parliament press release
More information about the European biofuels policy available here
|
RSS
