Sustainable Transport: EU Needs Advanced Biofuels to Deliver on Green Deal

Sustainable Transport: EU Needs Advanced Biofuels to Deliver on Green DealThe European Green Deal is an unprecedented package of legislative measures aimed at making the EU climate neutral in 2050. It is said that the Green Deal will change the EU as substantially as the creation of the single market back in the early nineties. The stakes are surely high: Climate change is one of the global challenges of this century and the clock is ticking to find and deploy technological solutions to address it

The European Green Deal is an unprecedented package of legislative measures aimed at making the EU climate neutral in 2050. It is said that the Green Deal will change the EU as substantially as the creation of the single market back in the early nineties. The stakes are surely high: Climate change is one of the global challenges of this century and the clock is ticking to find and deploy technological solutions to address it. The IEA has recently pointed out in its "Clean Energy Innovation Report”, that approximately 75% of the emissions reductions necessary to meet net-zero are dependent on disruptive technologies which are not yet commercially available at scale. The EU therefore must pull out all the stops in order to reach its climate commitments. Most importantly, it has to provide investors confidence while making the EU fit for 55.

The Next Generation Europe investment package, that prioritizes investments in climate technologies, is an important and necessary step. Looking at the transport sector, where the EU is almost entirely dependent on fossil fuels, we quickly realize however, that this is not sufficient. There is not one single and simple solution to substantial CO2 reductions and policy makers should not fall into the trap of ‘silver-bullet thinking’. A mix of sustainable technologies needs to be deployed and the legislator should foster their implementation. Renewable electricity will play an increasing role in achieving the target, but we should not turn a blind eye to the fact that the internal combustion engines still will account for the majority of the vehicle fleet in 2030 and well beyond. Carbon neutral solutions for existing drive trains and fueling infrastructure do exist: sustainable, advanced biofuels.

The EU has recognized the potential of advanced biofuels and established a supportive framework with the REDII as recently as 2018 including a binding mandate as of 2022. Since the adoption of REDII, considerable investments in advanced biofuels have been made and progress in the build-up of production capacity is under way. However, the deadline for transposition of the REDII by the Member States is June 2021 – coinciding with the planned publication of the revision of this very same framework. Who would be to blame for holding back additional investments until more clarity is in reach?

Navigating the Brussels law-making machinery is traditionally complex, and the sheer amplitude of the Green Deal adds overwhelm to the complexity. The Commission seems to open a new door of its legislative advent calendar at a daily pace. Therefore, it is crucially important that the European Commission reassures the advanced biofuels industry that the targets of the REDII will be strengthened, but that the fundamental rules of the game will remain unchanged. As it will be these economic operators that will help turn the transport vision of the Green Deal into an economic reality.

The first puzzle piece is the quick and ambitious implementation of the target for advanced biofuels of Annex IX part A across the EU. The Commission has to make it clear to the Member States that the planned revision of the Directive will continue in the same spirit as REDII and that advanced biofuels will remain supported through a dedicated sub-target. The second piece is a careful handling of the feedstock list of Annex IX part A. Any revision of the existing feedstock list must be undertaken with stringent due diligence and any addition of feedstocks has to be coupled with an increase of the overall mandate, corresponding to their market potential.

Reaching the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 is challenging. In order to make the transport sector carbon neutral all technological solutions are needed and a holistic policy framework beyond REDII has to support this shift. Let’s give a few examples.

It is paramount to recognise and include the renewable fuel dimension in the revision of the CO2 emissions standard regulation for vehicles. Addressing the CO2 emissions only at the tailpipe is not sufficient to ensure a carbon neutral mobility. Without the contribution of sustainable renewable fuels, the CO2 emissions from the EU fleet will not be reduced fast enough to meet the target in 2030 and towards net-zero objective in 2050.

Introducing a price for CO2 in the road transport sector is another crucial element. To address this the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive should base the minimum taxation rates on energy content in order to create a level playing field between fossil fuels and biofuels and include a CO2 tax element from which sustainable biofuels are exempt. The inclusion of road transport into the existing Emission Trading Scheme would be the wrong way: To effectively reduce CO2 emissions from transport through the ETS would result in substantially higher fuelling costs an effect that would go against the concept of ‘leaving no one behind’ as expressed in the Green Deal Communication.

Finally the Fuel Quality Directive should become the tool to drive additional greenhouse gas emission savings in the fuels sector. Making this Directive fit for 55 would mean to increase the greenhouse gas emission saving target for fuels beyond the 6% now and to allow for higher biofuel blends.

Building a climate neutral EU by 2050 will not come for free and investments in climate innovation are highly capital intensive. Those investments will only happen under an ambitious and reliable policy framework. The EU Commission under President Von der Leyen has demonstrated its ambition – now it has to prove its reliability to the industrial partners to jointly leverage the full potential for green growth and jobs in Europe.

The Advanced Biofuel Coalition (LSB) brings together leading advanced biofuels producers and technology providers committed to making a strong contribution to meet the EU ambitions of reducing transport emissions. LSB welcomes the EU’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050 and an increased level of ambition for 2030 targets. LSB requests long-term policy continuity and regulatory predictability in order to enable investment decisions to be made in the coming years contributing to the 2030 and 2050 targets.

(euractiv,gr, December 2, 2020)

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