Biofuel Expert Calls on EU to Revisit RED II to Avoid ‘Impetus of Oil’

by Sarantis Michalopoulos (EURACTIV.com) The EU should look at how countries across the world promote biofuels in their national policies and, following the announcement of the Green Deal, basically “revisit” the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) on road transport decarbonisation, a biofuel expert told EURACTIV.com.

“Capping conventional biofuels is not in the right direction […] it would give impetus to the oil sector, which would have a bigger share in the future,” Bharadwaj Kummamuru, executive director of the World Bioenergy Association (WBA), which represents the bioenergy sector globally, said on the sidelines of COP25 in Madrid.

As part of the “Clean Energy for All Europeans” package, EU member states revised the Renewable Energy Directive in an effort to boost the use of renewables and help the bloc meet its obligations under the Paris Agreement.

The EU decided to set a target of having a 14% share of renewables in transport. Conventional biofuels, such as bioethanol or biodiesel, were capped at 7% by 2030, while 3.5% should be reserved for so-called advanced biofuels.

“Our message for EU policymakers is to look at what’s happening in the rest of the world in terms of national policies promoting biofuels. There is no discussion on crop or non-crop based biofuels, food versus fuel debates, these topics are off the table,” Kummamuru said.

The Green Deal is expected to re-open a number of energy-related policies in order to update them and basically adjust them to the new green long-term objectives.

Regarding transport, the automotive sector is once again in the Commission’s firing line. The current objective is to reach 95gCO2/km by 2021. Now “we need to work towards zero,” sometime in the 2030s, said an EU official, who asked not to be named.

“By 2030, we will still have a lot more conventional engines than electric vehicles even though countries across the world have quite ambitious transport electrification targets. But at the same time, in order to meet the demand for these conventional engines by 2030 or even 2050, we will still need a lot of sustainable biofuels,” he said.

He added that these biofuels are already commercially available and have proven to be able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels.

“Bioethanol and biodiesel will still play a big role in decarbonising the transport sector,” he said, adding that biofuels managed to survive the strong criticism as they do not affect only the energy sector but also agriculture and farmers. READ MORE

Excerpt from ePURE/Ethanol Producer Magazine: “Everyone acknowledges that transport emissions present the toughest challenge to the success of the Green Deal in both the short- and long-term,” said Emmanuel Desplechin, secretary general of ePURE, the European renewable ethanol association. “But there is a way to start making a difference today: by further empowering EU Member States to use tools already making a difference, such as ethanol produced sustainably from crops and agricultural wastes and residues. The Green Deal is the EU’s chance to re-think some of the ways it has encouraged renewable energy uptake in recent years and make them work even harder for decarbonization.”

•Increase the ambition levels of the Renewable Energy Directive, including the contribution of crop-based and advanced biofuels towards EU renewables targets

•Move beyond a fossil-friendly tax policy that works against EU climate and energy goals by taxing transport fuels on their energy content and carbon intensity

•Ensure that all benefits from low-carbon liquid fuels are captured in the EU’s fuels and vehicles emissions regulations

“To get to climate neutrality by 2050, the EU first needs to achieve its 2020 targets and the more ambitious 2030 goals, and ethanol has an important role to play,” Desplechin said. “European ethanol has repeatedly proven its sustainability credentials and effectiveness at greenhouse-gas reduction. Ethanol produced by ePURE members reduces GHG emissions by more than 71 percent on average over fossil petrol, and its performance keeps getting better every year.”

Europe’s ethanol refineries are also part of a growing bioeconomy and circular economy, producing GMO-free, high-protein animal feed that offsets the EU’s protein deficit, and in many cases capturing CO2. READ MORE