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Post an EU jobOn the eve of negotiations that could determine the adoption of EU biofuel targets, the bloc's lawmakers are still split over sustainability criteria, including the amount of land used to grow crops for production.
On 23 January 2008, the European Commission put forward proposals aimed at boosting the share of biofuels in transport fuel to 10% by 2020, amid growing concerns over rising oil prices, energy security and climate change. But subsequent fears of rising food prices and biodiversity loss as land is diverted to biofuel production, as well as questionable CO2 reduction values, led to calls for the reduction or outright rejection of the target.
In September 2008, the European Parliament's industry and energy committee, which has the lead on the dossier, approved a report drafted by Luxembourg Green MEP Claude Turmes. Despite confirming the 10% target by 2020, the report specifies that at least 40% of this goal must be met by "non-food and feed-competing" second-generation biofuels or by cars running on green electricity and hydrogen (EurActiv 12/09/08).
MEPs also backed strict "sustainability criteria", including an obligation for biofuels to offer at least 45% carbon emission savings compared to fossil fuels. A series of social and environmental criteria were also included to address indirect increases in CO2 output (caused by deforestation and higher food prices as a result of shifting land from food to biofuel production).
LinksDossier: Biofuels for transport
A compromise deal on the contribution of biofuels to the EU's overall renewable energy consumption target (20% by 2020) could be reached tomorrow (3 December) in behind-closed-doors negotiations between the representatives of the three main EU institutions tomorrow.
The European Parliament's demand for indirect land use to feature alongside direct land use in the basic formula to calculate biofuels' overall CO2 performance has proven to be the achilles' heel of the negotiations.
MEPs want to see indirect land use included in the formula immediately, while member states would rather ask the European Commission to propose detailed rules to quantify the impact of indirect land use before including such criteria in the law.
Green MEP Claude Turmes, who is in charge of guiding the dossier through Parliament, said yesterday (1 December) that the Commission was opposed to Parliament's proposal, claiming that there is not enough scientific evidence available regarding the impact of indirect land use on biofuel emissions. The final text would thus need to include "new methodologies" to fill the knowledge gap, he said.
National governments also remain strongly opposed to sub-targets for first or second-generation biofuels. While the Parliament is asking for at least 40% of biofuels' contribution to CO2 emissions reduction to come from second-generation biofuels, government representatives have so far committed to just 25%, leaving an extra 15% to be bargained over if Parliament's expectations are to be matched.
As for the sub-targets, Turmes said the Parliament would only consider bargaining these after agreement had been reached on including indirect land-use in the text.
One possible compromise would involve Parliament giving up its demand for sub-targets and the Council accepting the introduction of indirect land use as a biofuel sustainability criterion in 2012, on the basis of Commission guidelines to be published in 2010.
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