by Pete Harrison (Reuters) A divisive European debate over the green credentials of biofuels has stalled investment and threatens the future of some producers, but could also create lucrative opportunities, companies said on Tuesday. After a two-year investigation, the European Commission
European Union (EU)
Back TO HOMEEuropean Roadmap to Cut Transport Carbon Emissions by 60% by 2050 marks out a less ambitious route for Aviation
(GreenAirOnline) The landmark White Paper on EU transport policy through to 2050, presented recently by the European Commission, unveiled a roadmap for reducing carbon emissions by 60 per cent across all transport sectors relative to 1990. However, it now appears
May 02, 2011 Read Full Article
Germany’s E10 Introduction—A Drama Not to Be Repeated
by Robert Vierhout (Ethanol Producer Magazine/ePURE) ...In early 2009, France was the first to introduce E10 fuel, once it was allowed in the EU. All BP filling stations offered the new fuel almost overnight. There were no problems reported
April 27, 2011 Read Full Article
EU Proposes 'Greener' Energy Tax
by Andrew Willis (EUObserver.com) EU taxes on motor and heating fuels will focus on carbon emissions and energy content in the future, under draft rules published by the European Commission. The proposed overhaul of the bloc's energy taxation directive is designed
April 15, 2011 Read Full Article
Vision 2050: a European Future Where Society Has Recognised Travel by Air is Environmentally Friendly
(GreenAirOnline) The public in the year 2050 is informed, understands and is convinced that the aviation sector has made the utmost progress in mitigating its environmental impacts and therefore considers air travel is environmentally sustainable. So says a new
April 12, 2011 Read Full Article
The Class of 2011
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Will these biofuels projects make the expected steps towards commercialization? There was a strong response to yesterday’s Top Story about technologies that were approaching make-or-break milestones in 2012. But what about 2011, asked some? What
April 08, 2011 Read Full Article
EU's Airline Emission Goals under Scrutiny
(Euractiv.com) When the European Commission unveiled plans to slash transport CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050 last week, many assumed the figure would apply to road, rail and air travel in the same way. But EurActiv has learned that
April 05, 2011 Read Full Article
Focus on Cost and Sustainability Issues as Aviation and Biofuel Sectors Meet Face to Face in Rotterdam
(GreenAirOnline) Sustainability and economics dominated debate at last week’s World Biofuels Market (WBM) event in Rotterdam as airlines gathered to make the case for aviation biofuels commercialisation to a wider biofuels industry audience. In a keynote speech, KLM Managing Director
March 28, 2011 Read Full Article
EU Not Supporting NGOs Against Palm Oil
by Rupa Damodaran (Business Times) The European Union is not using environmental non-government organisations as a "fifth column" to help it achieve its Renewable Energy Directive (RED) which places palm oil for biofuel at a disadvantage, says Trade Commissioner Karel
March 25, 2011 Read Full Article
Update from the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification Association
(Task 39) Around 140 guests followed the invitation of ISCC to the first General Assembly and discussed the status quo and development of sustainability certification with speakers like Ron van Erck from the European Commission and Dr. Hans-Jürgen Froese
March 25, 2011 Read Full Article
US Oilseed Growers Protest EU Biofuel Requirement
by John Davis (DomesticFuel.com) Oilseed growers, led by the American Soybean Association (ASA), have raised concerns with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk over the European Union’s (EU) Renewable Energy
March 17, 2011 Read Full Article
Diester Sees No Respite for EU Biodiesel Industry
by Sybille de La Hamaide (Reuters) Overcapacity, squeezed margins and massive imports should continue to hurt Europe's biodiesel industry this year and lead to further consolidation, the chief executive of EU giant Diester Industrie said on Monday. Several biodiesel firms in
March 17, 2011 Read Full Article
Mission NewEnergy Limited Announces Asia’s First Fully Integrated Sustainability & Carbon Certified Palm Biodiesel Supply Chain
(Daily Markets/PRNewswire) Multi-Media Enterprises is reporting that Mission NewEnergy Limited has announced the establishment of Asia’s first fully integrated Sustainability & Carbon Certified palm biodiesel supply chain. The announcement was made in Australia in the following news release: Mission NewEnergy Limited
March 15, 2011 Read Full Article
European Biofuels Technology Platform Adds Reports to Library
(European Biofuels Technology Platform) The mission of the European Biofuels Technology Platform (EBTP) is to contribute to the development of cost-competitive, world-class biofuels technologies, to the creation of a healthy biofuels industry and to accelerate the deployment of sustainable biofuels
March 04, 2011 Read Full Article
Report Criticises the UK over Its Refusal to Earmark EU ETS Carbon Revenues for Financing Green Projects
(GreenAirOnline) According to a report by carbon offsetting company Carbon Retirement, the United Kingdom has earned more than one billion euros ($1.35bn) from the auction of EU Allowances since its first auction in Phase II of the EU Emissions Trading
February 25, 2011 Read Full Article
Alternative Fuels Could Replace Fossil Fuels in Europe by 2050
(EMM NewsBrief) Alternative fuels have the potential to gradually replace fossil energy sources and make transport sustainable by 2050, according to a report presented to the European Commission today by the stakeholder expert group on future transport fuels. The EU
February 01, 2011 Read Full Article
European Commission Approves State Support for Development of Second Generation Biofuel
(Chemrec) The European Union has approved the SEK 500 million (€55 million, $75 million) R&D grant awarded by the Swedish Energy Agency towards the industrial scale demonstration biofuels plant based on Chemrec’s gasification technology at the Domsjö Fabriker biorefinery in
January 28, 2011 Read Full Article
Spinning ILUC Policy the European Way
by Robert Vierhout (ePURE/Ethanol Producer Magazine) It took the European Commission several stakeholder meetings, two public consultations and many more economic modelling studies to conclude that the indirect land use change (ILUC) effects of biofuel demand are not that obvious.
January 18, 2011 Read Full Article
The Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission Has Published “Prospects for Agricultural Markets and Income 2010-2020”.
(IEA Bioenergy Task 39) The outlook consists of a set of market and sector income prospects elaborated on the basis of specific assumptions regarding macroeconomic conditions, the agricultural and trade policy environment, weather conditions and international market developments. The medium term
January 18, 2011 Read Full Article
EU Wants Answers over German Animal Feed Dioxin Scandal
by Gregg Benzow (Deutsche Welle) ...The poisonous chemical dioxin was discovered in eggs and poultry last week and is believed to have stemmed from animal feed contaminated with industrial fats. ...The German feed manufacturer Harles & Jentzsch in Schleswig-Holstein said on Tuesday
January 07, 2011 Read Full Article
'Beauty' Project Developing Better Biofuel Engine
(Europa.eu) An EU-funded collaboration between universities and industry is overcoming limitations in current technologies to develop new bioethanol engines. Driven by the need for more sustainable and less polluting sources of energy, the European Union is now more determined than ever to
December 27, 2010 Read Full Article
Biofuels: Europe Adopts Report on Indirect Land Use Change
by S.C. (TeatroNaturale International) The Commission published today (December 22, 2010) a report on indirect land use change related to biofuels and bioliquids. The report acknowledges that indirect land use change can reduce greenhouse gas emissions savings associated with biofuels,
December 23, 2010 Read Full Article
BIOLYFE Newsletter Announces Preliminary Research Results of EU Second Generation Ethanol Production Project
(BIOLYFE) The BIOLYFE project aims at improving critical steps of the second generation bioethanol production process and at demonstrating the whole supply chain, from feedstock sourcing via fuel production to product utilisation. The main result will be the construction of an
December 21, 2010 Read Full Article
Palm Oil May Gain More Users from EU Biofuel Rules-Neste Oil
by Niki Koswanage (Reuters) Palm oil has production audit in place unlike other vegoils; Green palm oil production capacity growing. European Union rules requiring vegetable-oil based biofuels to come from eco-friendly sources may boost palm oil use in the sector as
December 08, 2010 Read Full Article
Uniting Producers
By Robert Vierhout (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The eBIO brand is no longer. For five years it served the European fuel alcohol industry well. In those years, the industry has changed. Few players became many players and small players became big
November 22, 2010 Read Full Article
GreenGold Ray Energies to Benefit From Europe's Bio-Diesel Inceased Demand
(Marketwire) GreenGold Ray Energies announced today that due to the increase target by the European Union of 10% of fuel sold at the pump be bio-diesel by 2020, the company will expedite its land acquisition. According to GreenGold Ray Energies, the current
November 12, 2010 Read Full Article
Free Trade in Asian Palm Biofuels takes Baby Steps Forward, but Maybe It Shouldn’t Have
by Joelle Dent (Biofuels Digest Asia) ...On the one hand, the EU position to allow import of uncertified Malaysian palm biodiesel, but withhold EU subsidies, is not clear or comprehensive enough. On the Asian side, it involves only Malaysia, one
October 28, 2010 Read Full Article
Malaysian Palm Oil Products Not Affected by EU RED
(The Star) The European Union Renewable Energy Directive (EU RED) and its sustainability criteria will not affect Malaysia’s palm oil exports to the EU market for consumer products like food, cosmetics and detergents, according to ambassador and head of the EU
October 28, 2010 Read Full Article
Hunting Microorganisms for Lignocellulosic Biofuel
(Renewable Energy Focus) A consortium of research institutes, universities and industrial partners are looking for microorganisms with enzymes that could help process lignocellulosic biomass into biofuel. The EU-funded project, known as DISCO, is searching for microorganisms that can degrade lignocellulosic material. If successful,
October 13, 2010 Read Full Article
Journal of Peasant Studies Publishes Perspectives on New Agrarian Relations Related to Biofuels
(Journal of Peasant Studies) In this collection we ask a number of questions emerging out of the new agrarian political economy created by the ‘biofuel complex’. Together the papers offer perspectives from political economy, political sociology and political ecology, and
September 28, 2010 Read Full Article
Palm Oil’s Promotion as Diesel Alternative Draws Fire
by Beth Gardiner (New York Times) Ubiquitous in products from cookies to cosmetics, and increasingly in European fuel tanks, too, palm oil is driving the destruction of some of Southeast Asia’s last tracts of untouched rainforest and leading to huge
June 04, 2010 Read Full Article
Bio-Waste Targets “Could Save Europe £6 billion”
(LetsRecycle.com) Introducing ambitious Europe-wide targets for the separate collection of both food and garden waste could offer environmental and cost benefits worth more than €7billion (£6 billion) between 2013 and 2020, according to a report published as part of the
May 04, 2010 Read Full Article
Biofuels and Global Trade Study Goes Online
"Global trade and environmental impact of the EU biofuels mandate" is the title of a study finalised by the International Food Policy Research Institute this 25 March 2010. The report is one of four studies commissioned by the European Commission
April 06, 2010 Read Full Article
“Fuel Is Strategic” says Aviation Expert at ITB; Biofuels Are Key to “Thinking out of the Box”
Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Germany, Dr. Jurgen Ringbeck, Senior Partner of Booz & Co said “Fuel is strategic, and there is an argument that can be made that an energy monopoly will be dominating the aviation industry.” Dr. Ringbeck
March 18, 2010 Read Full Article
Claims in ActionAid Publication against Biofuels Largely Questionable
(European Bioethanol Fuel Association) “Meals per Gallons”, a publication against biofuels recently produced by ActionAid, is based largely on unfounded claims, disputed data and one-sided arguments says eBio, the European Bioehtanol Industry Association. “In particular, the report paints biofuels as the villain
March 01, 2010 Read Full Article
Putting In a Good Word for Algae
by James Kanter (New York Times) A European lobbying group weighed in Tuesday on a fierce debate over the environmental value of using algae to produce biofuels for vehicles. The group, the European Algae Biomass Association, said members of its scientific
February 25, 2010 Read Full Article
Questions About Biofuels’ Environmental Costs Could Alter Europe’s Policies
by James Kanter(New York Times)...In a memorandum, Jean-Luc Demarty, the top civil servant in the agriculture department at the European Commission, wrote to a colleague in December that “an unguided use of I.L.U.C. would kill biofuels in the E.U.” His words
February 16, 2010 Read Full Article
EU: Rainforests Can Be Converted to Palm Oil Plantations for Biofuel Production
by Rhett A. Butler (Mongabay.com) The European Union may be planning to classify oil palm plantations as forests, raising fears among environmental groups of expanded conversion of tropical rainforests for biofuel production, reports the EUobserver, which cites a leaked document
February 10, 2010 Read Full Article
Argentine-European Biofuels Trade: Proposals for the Transparent Development of an Industry
by Carlos St. James (Argentine Renewable Energies Chamber) …Argentina, along with the rest of Latin America, is poised to begin capturing more and more of the growing pie that is global renewable energies investment. …Clearly, the world is coming to the
January 19, 2010 Read Full Article
EU Green Protectionism = Economic Madness
by Carpe Diem (benzinga.com) Some excerpts from the new study "Green Protectionism in the European Union: How Europe’s Biofuels Policy and the Renewable Energy Directive Violate WTO Commitments" from the European Center for International Political Economy: Biofuels production in Europe is
December 29, 2009 Read Full Article
Green Protectionism in the European Union: How Europe’s Biofuels Policy and the Renewable Energy Directive Violate WTO Commitments
by Fredrik Erixon (European Center for International Political Economy) This paper examines the trade-policy consequences of current approaches in the European Union towards biofuels. The EU uses a broad range of measures to subsidise the production of biofuels in Europe
December 07, 2009 Read Full Article
Biofuels Meet EU CO2 target but Gains Vary
by Gus Trompiz and Valerie Parent (Reuters) The current generation of biofuels meets a European target for cutting carbon dioxide emissions but its performance varies widely depending on the crop and production process used, an official French study has shown. Biofuels
October 12, 2009 Read Full Article
European States Split Over EU-Wide Carbon Tax Plan
(Reuters) European Union countries are split over plans to introduce an EU-wide carbon tax on fuel, which could be proposed early next year. The idea, which EU officials say has gained fresh momentum after losing impetus earlier this year, is