EU Renewable Energy Deal Backs Biofuels to Cut Transport Emissions

by Sean Goulding Carroll (EURACTIV.com) The amount of biofuels in Europe’s transport sector is expected to increase after the European Parliament and EU countries agreed in the early hours of Thursday (30 March) on new rules to spur the use of renewable energy across the bloc.

Under the agreement on the updated Renewable Energy Directive, targets to cut transport sector carbon emissions were strengthened, with member states given a choice of how to meet the revised goal.

EU countries can either reduce the greenhouse gas intensity in the transport sector by 14.5% by 2030, or opt for a binding target of at least a 29% share of renewables within the final consumption of energy in transport by the same date.

The addition of the greenhouse gas intensity goal was necessary to get the deal over the line, as it recognised the situation of countries such as France, which are largely supplied by low-carbon nuclear energy.

The volume of second-generation biofuels made from used cooking oil and certain animal fats, as listed in Part B of Annex IX of the directive, can also be ramped up, with the introduction of “double flexibility” for the current 1.7% cap.

It is expected that the list of Part B feedstocks will be expanded beyond used cooking oil and animal lipids in the coming months, as part of a biannual revision of the annex.

While member states are free to use as much biofuel from Part B in their transport sector as they wish, it cannot be counted towards their renewable energy targets beyond a 1.7% share at present.

Under the agreement, member states can apply to the Commission to modify the 1.7% limit, and the Commission is empowered to raise this cap when new feedstocks are added to Annex IX.

A multiplier of two, under which second-generation biofuels can be double counted towards renewable energy targets, was also included in the law.

Multipliers are used to incentivise the purchase of potentially costlier low-carbon fuels by making them more advantageous to meet policy aims.

According to Angel Alvarez Alberdi, the Secretary General of the European Waste-based & Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), the updated Renewable Energy Directive is a good deal for second-generation biofuel companies as it “will enable further growth in the industry”.

The agreement will additionally see the targets for advanced biofuels, set out in Part A of Annex IX, and hydrogen-derived synthetic fuels, known as Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin or RFNBOs, merged.

Collectively, advanced biofuels and RFNBOs must make up 5.5% of the share of renewable energies supplied to the transport sector. Within this target, 1% must comprise RFNBOs by 2030.

Trade association the Advanced Biofuels Coalition LSB criticised the decision, arguing that it will increase regulatory uncertainty for investors.

“Advanced Biofuels and RFNBOs have different cost levels for production. Therefore, differentiated submandates/sub-shares are necessary to guarantee their development,” the trade association warned lawmakers in a letter ahead of the vote.

Despite their campaign, the provisional agreement failed to shift the threshold under which certain biofuel crops must be phased out, leaving soy as a legal option.

Activists’ push to bring forward the phase-out date for palm oil as a biofuel source, currently set at 2030, also failed to make it into the final text.

Thursday’s deal represents an informal agreement between the bloc’s co-legislators, the European Parliament and Council. The deal will now need to be formally agreed upon by both institutions before becoming law, which is usually considered a formality. This is expected to take place after summer. READ MORE

Excerpt form EurActiv: Hours before they met, EU countries were still at odds over whether to recognise hydrogen produced from low-carbon nuclear power under the bloc’s renewable fuel targets for transport and industry.

France, backed by at least eight other EU countries, was leading a push for “low-carbon hydrogen” to be deducted from the bloc’s renewable goals, a move staunchly resisted by a rival group of at least nine other EU countries, including Germany.

In the end, the provisional agreement gives member states the possibility to choose between two objectives when it comes to renewable transport fuels, the statement said:

The greenhouse gas intensity goal is a concession to countries like France, which already has a low-carbon electricity mix thanks to its fleet of 56 nuclear reactors.

According to Canfin, the political deal “recognises the specific role of nuclear power, which is neither green nor a fossil fuel”.

For industry, the political deal introduces an objective to increase the use of renewable energy by 1.6% every year by 2030. This is an “indicative” target however, meaning that it is not a legally-binding obligation.

In addition, 42% of industry’s use of hydrogen should come from renewable fuels by 2030 and 60% by 2035, the EU statement says, with possible derogations foreseen for countries that already meet their decarbonisation goals – another win for France and its low-carbon electricity mix. These are legally-binding goals.

Fern, a campaign group lobbying for the protection of forests, said EU lawmakers have done too little to curb incentives for biomass, which they say drives deforestation in Europe and harms biodiversity.

The European Parliament initially sought to end subsidies for biomass and exclude primary wood burning from the EU’s renewable energy targets but the move was resisted by countries like Finland and Sweden, which rely on biomass for a significant share of their energy. READ MORE