European Commission proposes 10% biofuels target by 2020
Fri 19 January 2007
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The European Commission is proposing to introduce a target of a 10% biofuels content transport fuels by 2020. The proposal is amongst the raft of new measures recently announced by the Commission to combat climate change.
The European Commission is also planning to bring forward draft legislation that will force fuel suppliers to reduce life-cycle carbon emissions from road transport fuels. The news comes shortly after California's announcement that it is introducing a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (see separate story).
A draft of the proposal - which has been seen and reported by ENDS - says that, by 2020, fuel suppliers will have to reduce carbon emissions per unit of fuel energy by 10 per cent compared with 2010 levels. From January 2009 they would have to begin monitoring and reporting life-cycle emissions of their fuels.
Fuel suppliers have two main options for cutting fuel carbon emissions: by improving fuel production and distribution efficiency, or by switching to lower carbon sources; biofuels, hydrogen or other gaseous fuels.
The European Commission are already actively promoting Biofuels through two existing directives; one that sets indicative targets for minimum biofuel blended content in conventional transport fuels, and another that sets up tax breaks.
According to ENDS, the new directive would create the first ever guarantee that increased biofuel use is actually reducing carbon dioxide emissions in practice. The law will force manufacturers to calculate the carbon balance of all fuels supplied to the market, including biofuels.
Meanwhile, the Commission has published its latest Biofuels Progress Report (see link below).
The report concludes that increased biofuel use is the only means now available to reduce the transport sector's near-complete dependence on oil , and that it is one of the few ways to make a significant impact on transport’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The Commision says: "To send a clear signal of its plans to reduce its dependence on oil use in transport, the Union needs to take a new step forward in its policies for biofuel promotion."
On carbon dioxide reduction in relation to the use of biofuels the Commission's report says: "The greenhouse gas benefits of biofuel policy can be further increased, and environmental risks minimised, through a simple system of incentives/support that, for instance, discourages the conversion of land with high biodiversity value for the purpose of cultivating biofuel feedstocks; discourages the use of bad systems for biofuel production; and encourages the use of second-generation production processes."
In a separate report, the EU is shown to be falling short of its overall targets for energy produced from biomass. According to the report, the EU's biomass production will reach only around 104 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe) by 2010 compared with its target of 150 mtoe.
Related Documents
ENDS story link
EU Biofuels Progress Report - download link
California Low Carbon Fuel Standard - LowCVP news link
Eurobserver biomass targets report link
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