MEPs call for higher carbon savings from biofuels
Wed 04 June 2008
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The European Parliament's Environment Committee has given its backing to the Committee rapporteur's proposal that biofuels should deliver greater greenhouse gas savings than are currently proposed by the European Commission.
The Committee supported a recommendation that biofuels should deliver life-cycle GHG emissions savings of 50% compared with conventional fuels. The Commission had recommended that the level should be set at 35%.
Anders Wijkman, the Commitee's rapporteur, said that the Commission's proposed 35% saving is 'too little ambitious'.
Mr Wijkman's draft opinion says that: "By setting such a low target, the majority of biofuels in the market today will qualify, with a risk of locking production into inefficient production with limited climate benefits and potential for large indirect land use effects".
Under Wijkman's plan, fuel-producing installations established before January 2008 would have to meet the 50 per cent threshold by 2015. Those established after this date would have to meet the target immediately.
European governments have agreed in principle on a two-stage approach, starting at 35 per cent but are split on where and when to set the second-stage target.
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