Advanced BioFuels USA – European Groups Comment on Key RED Vote in Parliament

(ePURE/Ethanol Producer Magazine) The European Parliament has taken a positive step on EU renewable energy policy as ITRE Committee members voted decisively in favor of increasing the ambition for GHG emissions reduction in transport while leaving Member States free to use crop-based biofuels in their transport energy mix.

The ITRE position – adopted by a vote of 54 in favor, 14 against, 6 abstentions – largely maintains the framework for crop-based biofuels as suggested by the European Commission, with a crop cap set at each Member State’s 2020 final consumption of energy in transport, allowing +1 percent flexibility with a maximum of 7 percent.

ITRE members signaled that sustainably produced crop-based biofuels do play an important role in transport decarbonization – today and tomorrow. This is certainly an improvement over the misguided approach toward agriculture taken by the ENVI committee, which would severely reduce the cap on crop-based biofuels and create a gap in the transport energy mix that would have to be filled by imported fossil fuel.

Now it will be up to the full European Parliament to decide in plenary in September on a final position. With so much at stake on the issues of increasing both EU energy and feed & food autonomy as highlighted in the EU Council declaration, it is clear the Parliament needs to recognize the potential of sustainable crop-based biofuels as an important component of EU renewable energy policy and a key provider of EU protein-rich co-products for feed use until 2030 and beyond.

In light of the current geopolitical context, the EU should acknowledge and fully maximize the potential of certified sustainable crop-based biofuels in reaching the new EU policy priorities and targets for food & feed and energy security, while delivering on its climate ambitions.

Our sectors are at the crossroads of moving towards climate neutral food and feed production, fossil-fuel substitution and European energy independence, GHG emissions savings and the domestic bioeconomy. At the same time, decision-makers should recognise the synergies –- between food, feed, and energy value chains in the EU.

•COCERAL – represents trade in cereals, oilseeds, pulses, olive oil, oils and fats, animal feed and agrosupply

•FARM Europe - a multicultural think tank that aims to stimulate thinking on rural economies

•Fediol – represents the interests of the European vegetable oil and protein meal industry

•FEFAC - represents the interests of the European compound feed and premix industry READ MORE

Excerpt from Ethanol Producer Magazine: The GHG emission-reducing performance of EU renewable ethanol is significant and keeps improving every year, to the current level of 76.9 percent on average compared to fossil fuel. Importantly, ePURE members’ biorefineries in the EU produced more animal feed than fuel that year – simultaneously creating food, feed and renewable fuel while boosting rural economies and providing secure and affordable energy. READ MORE

Excerpt from Bioenergy Insight: However, the production of biogas has not been completely undisputed.

While biogas plants often provide an important additional source of income for local farmers and can contribute to local production of electricity and heat, critics argue that the production diverts important side products of agriculture, such as manure or crop residues, away from the “core business” of food production.Moreover, biogas is not produced from by-products that arise anyway, but from specially cultivated energy crops such as maize or wheat, another argument comes into play: the competition for arable land.

This aspect has gained particular momentum in the wake of the war in Ukraine and the consequent pressure on global food supplies.

“Biogas is not an alternative to natural gas. This is because the cultivation of energy crops displaces food production and any further pressure on natural ecosystems endangers biodiversity,” a statement by Greenpeace reads.

Meanwhile, in addition to the subsidy for biogas, another aspect of the renewable energy act amendment has drawn farmers’ criticism: in order to promote the development of solar power, the amendment also foresees the expansion of so-called stand-alone photovoltaic systems on agricultural land.

The German Farmers’ Association had repeatedly advocated the expansion of solar installations on rooftops first instead of on open agricultural land in order to avoid the loss of arable land.

The association is particularly critical that, according to the amendment passed on Thursday, stand-alone systems are to be built on larger strips than before – up to 500 metres next to motorways and railway tracks.

“This will lead to agri-structurally disadvantageous fragmentation of land and promote the loss of highly productive agricultural land,” said Krüsken. Instead, the association advocates that the turbines be built primarily on low-yield land. READ MORE

Excerpt from U.S. Industrial Pellet Association/Biomass Magazine: As supported by the IPCC and the IEA, sustainable biomass is an indispensable solution for achieving climate goals, and currently provides more renewable energy than the EU’s total wind and solar output combined. The European Commission’s own modelling shows biomass use must at least double as part of a sufficient path to net zero, which is why Parliament must address overly-restrictive language in the RED that would prevent this growth – in particular, unnecessary restrictions around primary woody biomass.

These provisions, if left uncorrected, would exclude otherwise sustainable feedstocks and arbitrarily limit biomass supply, pushing ambitions of 45 percent renewable energy far out of reach. READ MORE