Renewable biodiesel recognised as essential to EU’s 2030 climate and energy objectives
Date
14 Jun 2018
Sections
Agriculture & Food
The negotiating teams from the three European institutions reached a final agreement earlier today on the renewable energy framework post-2020.
FEDIOL, representing the European Vegetable Oil and Proteinmeal Industry, acknowledges the important deal reached in Strasbourg by negotiators from the European Parliament, Commission and Council on the Renewable Energy Directive for the period 2021-2030. FEDIOL considers the contribution of the transport sector to achieving an ambitious 32% renewable energy share in 2030 as essential, and therefore welcomes the agreement reached on a 14% target for transport which includes conventional biofuels.
The political compromise resulted in a decision to cap these biofuels at their 2020 consumption levels in each Member State. Although not ideal, this solution is less disruptive than a mere phase out and recognises the existing efforts and achievements by the EU biodiesel industry in delivering clean biofuels that can actively contribute to the decarbonisation goals set by the European Union for the period after 2020.
Fine tuning and further clarifications are still needed on some important elements of the file. In this sense, getting to a credible methodology to define low and high ILUC-risk biofuels is essential to avoid unjustified discrimination of sustainable biofuels that play an important role in saving GHG emissions in the transport sector.
“Assigning to the European Commission the responsibility to come up at a later stage with a methodology to define biofuels that are produced from land with high carbon stock, as well as those at low risk of causing adverse effects, leaves huge uncertainty on biofuel producers and investors” - commented Nathalie Lecocq, FEDIOL Director General. “Ensuring that a fair and transparent methodology is developed, will be essential to avoid unjustified discrimination of sustainable cultivations from different parts of the world”.
Another element of concern in the final agreement is the inclusion of excessive multipliers, which could hamper the effective contribution of conventional biofuels to the renewable energy target and substantially reduce the decarbonisation ambition of the European Union.
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For further enquiries please contact Nathalie Lecocq, Director General: fediol@fediol.eu