EU Legislation and Policy

EU directives govern the use of biofuels in the EU. The most relevant have been

EU Strategy for Biofuels
Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC and
Two recent proposals for a directive issued in

October 2012: this proposed to minimise the climate impact of biofuels by amending the current legislation on biofuels through the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and the Fuel Quality Directive and
January 2013: (EC COM(2013) 17) called Clean Power for Transport: A European Alternative Fuels Strategy.

The October proposal seeks to limit (to 5%) the amount of food crop-based biofuels and bioliquids which can be used to meet the 10% renewable energy target in the transport sector, to provide market incentives for biofuels with no/low indirect land use change emissions (and in particular the 2nd and 3rd generation biofuels produced from feedstock that do not create an additional demand for land, including algae, straw, and various types of waste, and, for the first time, indirect land use change (ILUC) will be considered when assessing the greenhouse gas performance of biofuels.

This above proposal was then complemented by the most recent January 2013 directive proposal. This proposal encompasses biofuels as well as LNG, SNG, electricity and hydrogen. It also advocates support for sustainable advanced biofuels produced from lignocellulosic feedstocks and wastes, as well as algae and microorganisms. It recommends no further public support for first generation biofuels produced from food crops after 2020.

The earlier 2009/28/EC Directive had advocated the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (the "Renewable Energy Directive") and established mandatory targets of a 20% overall share of renewable energy in the EU and a 10% share of renewable energy in the transport sector to be achieved by 2020. At the same time, an amendment to Directive 98/70/EC2 ("the Fuel Quality Directive") introduced a mandatory target of a 6% reduction in the greenhouse gas intensity of fuels used in road transport and non-road mobile machinery by 2020.

This latest proposal comes as a huge policy shift compared to the 2006 directive “An EU strategy for biofuels” which promoted biofuels as a renewable energy alternative for the fossil fuel energy source used in the transport sector, including measures to promote the production and use of biofuels. However, more importantly, the directive sought to stimulate demand for biofuels by expanding feedstock supplied and targeting the implementation of sugar production for bioethanol with CAP aid schemes. It also aimed to study the possibility of processing cereals into biofuels.

African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States Science and Technology Programme
Grant Contract: FED/2009/217066

This Action is funded under the ACP Science and Technology Programme

(http://www.acp-st.eu/about/)

by the European Union and implemented by the ACP Secretariat.

This website has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents are the sole responsibility of the University of Greenwich and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.