Europe planning minimum sustainability standards for biofuels

BRUSSELS, Belgium, August 1, 2007. Biofuels are not the panacea for energy problems but they are “an essential component of our future approach to energy policy,” says the European energy commissioner.

“Biofuels are important because they tackle two of the most difficult challenges we face in energy policy,” Andris Piebalgs explained in his keynote speech to an international biofuels conference. Transport depends on oil for 98% of its fuel and that level of dependence “would be a worry whatever the fuel” but it is very concerning to the EU because oil is the fossil fuel of which Europe has least.

“We need to pursue many solutions to this problem but, today, biofuels are just about the only large-scale option available to diversify fuel sources in the transport sector,” he said. “We must ensure that we take advantage of the opportunities they offer.”

On present trends, transportation will account for 60% of the EU's increase in carbon emissions by 2020 and “it is essential for these trends to be reversed,” he continued. Biofuels also offer a potential contribution to employment in rural areas, both in the EU and in developing countries and, “for all these reasons, biofuels are a key part of our energy policy.”

In 2003, the EU adopted a biofuels directive to increase the share in the transport fuel market from 0.5% to 2% by 2005 and 5.75% by 2010. “Disappointingly, we did not achieve this first indicative target” and the share of biofuels in 2006 was only 1.5% “but the pace of implementation is picking up.”

Nearly all 27 countries in the EU have enacted measures to support biofuels, ranging from tax exemptions to green fuel obligations, and Piebalgs expects to see the share of biofuels reach 4 to 4.5% by 2010.

For renewable energies, the EU is proposing a binding continental target of 20% by 2020, three times higher than currently, with biofuels proposed for 10% share of the transport market by that time. “But this time, this target will no longer be indicative; it, too, will be binding,” he added.

“This strategy represents a step change in the ambition of our policies on renewable energy and in the introduction of a strong European policy framework to support their achievement,” he said. “For biofuels, it will mean nearly a sevenfold increase in consumption. It is, of course, essential to ensure that this increase is fulfilled in a sustainable way; we cannot just sit back and assume that this will happen automatically.”

“Most biofuels deliver solid greenhouse gas savings but there exist inefficient production techniques that do not,” he added. “The use of these production techniques must be avoided.”

Some production of biofuels will come from new land which introduces a risk of causing “big greenhouse gas losses” through the release of carbon stored in the soil and in plants, in addition to a risk of disturbing biodiversity and disrupting natural habitats. “These risks, too, need to be avoided,” he warned.

The directive for a 10% target for biofuels will contain a sustainability scheme that will set minimum sustainability standards for biofuels. Only biofuels that meet these standards will count towards the 10% target and only those biofuels will be eligible for tax exemptions, and the rules will apply equally to domestically produced biofuels and to imports.

The EU expects to see an increase in global trade in biofuels but, even if the continent had to fulfil its 10% target for 2020 entirely through domestically produced biofuels, such a measure would imply “only a small increase in agricultural commodity prices; a matter of a few percentage points.” However, even if the approach were technically possible, “it is not the one that we want to follow” because “purely domestic sourcing of biofuels is neither likely ... nor desirable,” he explained.

“Biofuels are not the panacea for all our energy problems but they are an essential component of our future approach to energy policy, and a way to make sure that the transport sector plays its full part in our efforts to tackle global warming and to diversify fuel sources,” he concluded.

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