REA Welcomes Ed Davey’s Support for Biofuels in Europe
by Robin Whitlock (Renewable Energy Magazine) …The Renewable Energy Association (REA) has welcomed Energy Secretary Ed Davey’s stance on biofuels at the European Energy Council. Mr Davey said that the idea of a one-size-fits-all approach to the issue of indirect land use change (ILUC) is not helpful. The proposals include an overall cap on the use of crop-based biofuels at 5 percent of transport. This would make the binding EU-wide 10 percent renewable transport target virtually impossible to achieve.
The UK biofuels industry has rallied to produce a paper on the proposals and so far, the UK is the first EU member state to produce such a unified industry position on the issue, with the REA, AIC, NFU and SCOPA representing the entire biofuels supply chain. The paper points out that the assumptions behind the proposals are based on a purely theoretical approach which does not take into account the realities of biofuel development. It also urges a dedicated target for 2 percent of transport fuel to come from advanced biofuels by 2020 allowing electric vehicles and conventional biofuels to make up the rest of the target. READ MORE
