Industry Seeks to Weaken EU Cap on Crop-Based Fuels
(Reuters) …The European Commission is under strong pressure from industry groups and some of its own departments to weaken a planned cap on the use of biofuels made from food crops such as rapeseed and wheat.
Last month, the two EU Commissioners responsible for biofuel policy said they planned to limit the share of crop-based fuels in the transport sector to 5 percent up to 2020, which would effectively halve the bloc’s existing target.
…But just days before the EU executive is set to formally propose the cap in draft legislation, some Commission departments are leading a last-minute push to water down the plans at the urging of biofuel producers and farmers.
“Too many Commission cabinets are now giving in to the biofuel lobby,” said Claude Turmes, a Green EU lawmaker from Luxembourg who helped to negotiate the bloc’s 2020 biofuel target when it was agreed back in 2008.
“It is very likely now that without major pressure, the 5 percent limit will be moved up closer to 7 or 8 percent,” he said. READ MORE and MORE (Phys.Org) and MORE (Deutsche Welle) and MORE (Biodiesel Magazine) and MORE (Ethanol Producer Magazine)
