‘Greenwashed Oil’ Set to Win from Renewable Transport Targets, Biofuel Industry Claims

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December 14, 2017

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by Paola Tamma (EurActiv) Biofuel producers in the Visegrad countries plus Lithuania and Bulgaria have warned that a phase-out of biofuels will lead to a phase-in of ‘greenwashed’ fossil fuels under the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), as it currently stands in the Council’s proposal.

The group of countries argues that setting a 12% target for renewable energy in transport and multiplying the contribution from electric vehicles by a factor of five, as currently proposed by the Council, would lead member states to achieve the target nominally, but actually only a small share of transport will be powered by electricity and advanced biofuels, the rest will be provided by fossil fuels.

“If we talk about that 12% and you can reach the target with a small amount of electricity but highly multiplied, there will not be more renewable energy in transport. It will be just more fossil fuels,” Zuzana Jakubičková from the Slovakian biofuel association said.

That is why they are asking the European Commission to be “technologically neutral” when it comes to renewable energy in transport, and not weigh in favour of electricity.

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Danail Kamenov from the Bulgarian biofuel association said: “Greenwashed oil would be the major beneficiary of RED II. Even if the most optimistic forecast of 280 million electric cars on the world’s roads by 2040 is realised, this would still represent less than 1% of global CO2emissions, so other tools should also be taken into account to reduce the GHG emissions significantly.”

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Biofuels producers are claiming that foregoing incentives for crop-based biofuels would have negative consequences for the farming sector of Visegrad countries, something that the governments of V4 plus Bulgaria and Romania have already warned the Commission by signing a joint declaration last month.

The farmers’ lobby claims that 220.000 rural jobs depend on the biofuel sector. However, a 2015 analysis from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, estimates the number of jobs linked to the EU biofuels industry at around 12,000 in 2015. READ MORE

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EU unveils proposal to clean up transport, boost electric vehicles (EurActiv)

Think tanker: E-mobility push won’t affect EU oil demand significantly until 2040s (EurActiv)

More than half of EU biodiesel made from imported crops, study finds (EurActiv)

Visegrad and Balkans hit out at Commission over biofuels phase-out proposal (EurActiv)

Greenwashed oil the major beneficiary of the revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED 2) (EurActiv)

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