Hveiti

refining life

MEPs split ahead of vote on biofuel targets

Members of the European Parliament are scheduled to vote next week in Strasbourg on a controversial proposal to limit the amount of conventional biofuel that can be used to meet an EU target for transport fuel, writes Dave Keating, europeanvoice.com, 5/9.

The proposal is a response to growing concern over indirect land use change (ILUC), which can mean that the cultivation of biofuel causes more emissions than it abates. There is also concern about biofuel crops displacing food production.

The European Commission's approach, proposed in late 2012, would specify that only half of the EU's target of 10 % of transport fuel from renewable sources could be met by so-called ‘first generation' biofuel suspected of causing ILUC. It would also force fuel companies to measure the amount of ILUC that their fuel causes, as part of fuel quality standards, though these would be for informational purposes only.

According to Dave Keating, during a meeting of group leaders today, some centre-right MEPs will suggest that the vote be delayed until October because of reports published in the past few weeks.

An industry report presented to MEPs by the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) on 3 September presents evidence that ILUC impacts have been overestimated. EBB claims, for instance, that ILUC from production of rapeseed oil for biodiesel could be as much as 95% lower than European Commission estimates.

“The room for uncertainty on ILUC is too wide to put a figure in the directive,” said Raffaello Garofalo, secretary-general of the EBB, at a debate in the European Parliament 4 September.

In August, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), an environmental consultancy, had to publish a revision to a report issued in April that had found biofuel received up to €5.8 billion in tax exemptions in 2011. This figure was revised down to between €2bn and €2.5bn. The biofuel industry claims that this demonstrates the inaccuracy of the evidence against biofuel.

Read the entire article on europeanvoice.com.

Follow the developments within biorefining. hveiti regularly informs about our efforts to improve the environment.



Follow hveiti on facebook