Yesterday 24 February the Environment Committee of the European Parliament has voted on the proposal for amendment of the EU biofuels policy, to cap the use of crops to make biofuel and to account for their supposed indirect land use change effect (ILUC). MEPs also voted to give Nils Torvalds, the MEP leading the process, a mandate to negotiate with the Council in view to achieve a final compromise on this file. A final agreement between the Parliament and member states is expected by this April.
The main points approved
- The Parliament’s position includes a 6% cap on the final consumption of first generation biofuels, including those obtained from energy crops grown on land.
- The estimated emission from indirect land use change should be accounted for in the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy of biofuels. Biofuels made from feedstocks that do not lead to additional demand for land, such as those from waste feedstocks, should be assigned a zero emissions factor.
- The Commission is requested to issue a report by 31 December 2017 to establish sustainability criteria for biofuels from “non-land using feedstocks” and “non-food crops” as well as a framework for promoting sustainable biofuels after 2020.
- A 1,25% sub-target for advanced biofuels is established. Biofuels obtained from certain types of feedstock (listed in Annex IX, wastes and residues in general) can benefit of a double counting of their energy content for the purpose of complying with this target. A quadruple-counting rule is introduced for algae, renewable liquid and gaseous fuels of non-biological origin, carbon capture and bacteria.
- Finally, a principle of cascading use of waste and respect of waste hierarchy is introduced.
The first reactions from lobbies and companies
Copa-Cogeca, the lobby group of European farmers, opposed to both the ILUC accounting and the cap, “I seriously regret the vote by the Environment Committee today. It goes in the wrong direction, making it more difficult to reach an agreement with Member States”, said Copa-Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen. Read the full position here.
Today’s approval of radical Torvald’s position against any biofuels compromise is a bad news for Europe” said Raffaello Garofalo Secretary General of EBB, who added “it brings the unreasonable ILUC fight one step forward in an escalation where the losers are European citizens and the winner is fossil petrol”. Read the full position here.
“The Committee has recognised that the most effective way to address ILUC is to provide dedicated support for ethanol with its strong record of GHG savings, even if ILUC was accounted for,”said Robert Wright, secretary-general of ePURE, the renewable ethanol association. “We look towards the Council to remain firm on a minimum 7% cap for conventional biofuel, while allowing the process to move forward,” he said. “The industry needs a policy outcome that will provide us with certainty and a longer-term perspective beyond 2020”.
Faustine Defossez, European Environmental Bureau Senior Policy Officer for Agriculture and Bioenergy said: “Today MEPs have clearly acknowledged the harm caused by some biofuels and agreed that emissions resulting from the indirect land use changes caused by them can no longer be ignored. The end of these discussions is finally nearing, we only hope that with that we will also see the end of harmful biofuels.” Read the full position here.
Marc-Olivier Herman, Oxfam, said: “By reaching an agreement, MEPs avoided a potential pitfall and put people’s right to food above the production of environmentally damaging biofuels. Today’s decision to go for a lower biofuels cap than the one proposed by EU energy ministers cements the case that biofuels drive up food prices – hitting the world’s poorest hardest”.
Novozymes, a company producing enzymes for conventional and advanced ethanol said: “The package of amendments adopted today is complex and far from perfect, but we welcome the broad consensus in Parliament to establish a mandatory target for advanced biofuels by 2020 and the strong call for longer term support. A stable and effective framework is the only way forward to secure commercial deployment and allow Europe to harness the benefits of CO2 emissions savings, energy security and job creation. Likewise, we welcome the re-introduction of a specific provision that guarantees a minimum share of renewable ethanol in petrol within the cap. Ethanol significantly reduces CO2 emissions compared to fossil fuels even when indirect impacts are accounted for. It is only fair to differentiate those biofuels that are best performing“.
