LowCVP to participate in global taskforce seeking harmonisation of biofuels GHG measurement methodologies
Fri 22 February 2008
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The LowCVP will participate in a taskforce meeting, hosted by the Global Bioenergy Partnership, seeking to harmonise approaches to the measurement of life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of transport biofuels. In a separate development, the LowCVP Director has been invited to address a European Parliament workshop on the delivery of a sustainable biofuels market.
The Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP) established a task force in late-2007 to consider the feasibility of developing a harmonised methodology for biofuels sustainabilty and to develop proposals for undertaking the work. Based on an initial meeting, the GBEP concluded that it is possible to develop a harmonised approach to the development of greenhouse gas (GHG) lifecycle assessments of biofuels. The GBEP aims to publish details of the agreed principles by early 2009.
The LowCVP has been invited by the UK Government to participate in the next multi-national GBEP meeting, to be held in Washington DC.
The LowCVP has managed the sustainabilty and carbon accreditation work in the UK which will underpin the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) and has previously liaised with the Dutch and German Governments in attempting to harmonise the approaches to measuring and ensuring sustainability for biofuels. The LowCVP is now working to advise the UK Government on the move from a volume-based to a carbon-based RTFO. The LowCVP aims to provide technical input to Government to ensure that the resulting scheme stimulates biofuels with higher GHG savings and therefore optimises the GHG savings of the RTFO policy.
Meanwhile, a study commissioned by the LowCVP is exploring ways in which biofuel production can be integrated with food and feed production by making multiple use of crops, including residues and by-products. The aim of the study is to point the way towards optimising efficient use of resources for first generation biofuels. The first outputs of the work are expected by the end of March this year.
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