Lobbying steps up ahead of EU Council meetings on biofuels

Lobbyists are gearing up for a fresh round of talks between EU member states on the share of crop-based biofuels in transport that should be used between 2020 and 2030, with the focus broadening from the EU Parliament to the EU Council.

This week, a group of 178 Dutch scientists signed a letter urging the Netherlands government to support a phase-out of crop-based biofuels for use in meeting EU’s targets to cut carbon emissions from transport.

The scientists pointed to a study commissioned by the EU Commission, which found that crop-based biodiesel has, on average, 1.8 times the climate impact of fossil diesel, adding that this number increases to three times more in the case of biodiesel from palm oil.

The move is aimed at putting further pressure on the Netherlands government to take a tough stand in upcoming meetings of the EU Council, including a December 18 meeting of EU energy ministers.

Environmentalists hope a revision to the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) will prohibit the use of ‘first generation’ biofuels blamed for driving up food prices and contributing to climate change through deforestation and use of monoculture plantations.

“But countries with large agriculture sectors are likely to oppose this,” said Alex Mason, a renewables policy analyst with WWF.

For example, France is said to be supportive of high thresholds for crop-based biofuel use because transport fuels are an increasingly important market for its sugar beet farmers in view of major changes to the Common Agriculture Policy for sugar.

Meanwhile, the Visegrad group of central European countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) is also likely to oppose a lowering of the threshold, said Laura Buffet, a fuels analyst with Transport & Environment.

 “These countries are likely to flag up what they will contend are green credentials for biofuels, but in reality they are looking to protect their agribusiness sector,” Buffet added.

A Visegrad declaration on biofuels issued in September said the use of crops for biofuels are "a vital tool to increase both jobs and growth within the EU; especially in rural areas".

Analysts with NGOs said it is difficult to tell how energy ministers or the EU Council as a whole will try and impact the draft Renewables Directive, but the final legislation is likely to reduce the crop-based biofuels threshold below the 7% favoured by the EU Council.  

In the European Commission’s draft of RED II, the EU executive recommended the threshold be cut to 3.8%.

Representatives of the biofuels industry said the EP plenary in January needs to clear up the confusion created by various EP committees.

“Instead of throwing out existing solutions that work, build on them by leaving in place the 7% cap on crop-based biofuels and promoting advanced biofuels as part of an overall renewables in transport target,” ethanol lobby group ePure said in an email.