EU Hearing Urges Caution on Biofuels Targets

April 26, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS

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At an April 17 public hearing on sustainability criteria for biofuels, representatives from the European Union (EU) and industry urged the EU's institutions and member states to exercise caution when considering the role of biofuels in Europe's energy strategy.

The hearing was organised by the Sustainable Development Observatory, a part of the EU's European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).

Set by the European Council in March 2007, the ambitious target of 10% biofuels in vehicle fuel by 2020 was widely questioned at the hearing.

Derek Osborn, chairman of the Sustainable Development Observatory, said, "Setting a mandatory 10% target clearly risks being counter-productive and leading to unsustainable biofuel production."

Egardo Iozia, the EESC's rapporteur on biofuels, said, "The European Commission underestimated the complexity of the issue when the 10% target was proposed.

"Now we have to take the time to step back and make a thorough analysis of where we want to go, knowing that the choices we make will have repercussions for agriculture, our energy use, the environment and our societies as a whole."

The main topic of the hearing was the sustainability criteria linked to biofuels. Without such criteria, there is a strong risk of biofuels exacerbating the environmental problems they are supposed to help overcome.

Dorette Corbey, the European Parliament's rapporteur, said, "Setting sustainability criteria is a reasonable response to the increased public concerns about biofuels. These criteria have to take into consideration CO2 efficiency, land-use change (including indirect change), biodiversity and social aspects."

According to presenters at the hearing, implementation of the 10% target on biofuels will lead to strong competition for land use, in Europe and even more so in developing countries. On available arable land, not only crops for food and fuel have to be grown, but also biomass for energy use, especially for co-generation and micro-generation.

The use of biomass to burn in order to produce energy should be favoured before transforming biomass into biofuel, since this is more efficient. This position was supported not only by the petroleum industry but also by the European Network of National Sustainable Development Councils and the environmental lobby group Transport and Environment .

Closing the hearing, Osborn argued that the primary focus should be on climate change targets, to use fuels and processes that reduce CO2 emissions so that the EU can keep to its international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Source: European Commission (EC).