European companies that produce ethanol have complained that the EU’s policy of capping the use of crop-based biofuels in transport is slowing the shift from fossil to green transport fuels. They also say EU ‘multipliers’ that give more green credit for other sources of ethanol give a “misleading picture of progress towards climate goals”.
The comments came from ePURE, which represents the interests of 43 European renewable ethanol producers, with around 50 plants across the EU and UK. Together the companies claim about 85% of EU renewable ethanol production.
David Carpintero, director general of ePURE, said, “The much-needed growth in renewable energy sources in transport has been held back by EU policies that unfairly hamstring member states from using sustainable crop-based biofuels to replace fossil fuels.”
In 2021, most biofuels consumed in the EU were crop-based. But since the adoption of RED I in 2009, advanced and some non-food-based biofuels are counted twice towards the achievement of some targets, to promote their use. Meanwhile to reduce the conflict between food and fuel and encourage the use of advanced biofuels, 2015’s Indirect Land Use Change Directive introduced a 7% cap on the contribution of energy from crop-based biofuels.
The organisation said the EU’s “lack of progress on renewables in transport is worrying”, because the target for renewables in transport set by the latest version of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) is more than double that of RED-II, requiring member states to achieve 29% by 2030. It says “Consequently, the share of renewables in transport including multipliers reported in 2023 must be tripled in just five years in order to meet the 2030 target.”
But ePURE’s complaint comes as the sustainability of biofuels has come under scrutiny, both as transport fuels and as solid biomass used in place of coal in power stations.
In a report published on 25 April, UK scrutiny body the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) questioned the sustainability credentials claimed for solid biomass fuel used at the Drax power station in a report on Government Support for Biomass.
The report raised the risk of biomass users ‘marking their own homework’ on sustainability criteria. It said the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), which oversees the use of biomass in power stations, “has relied for too long on an untested approach to ensure biomass generators are meeting sustainability criteria for receiving financial support”. Assurance “relies heavily on generators self-reporting the sustainability of the biomass they use and third-party certification schemes,” and “neither DESNZ nor [energy regulator] Ofgem know whether the approach to assurance is effective in making sure biomass is from sustainable sources”.
The report said DESNZ should “complete a comprehensive assessment of the strength of its current approach to gaining assurance around the sustainability of biomass”.
Another concern for the Committee over biomass was that “sustainable biomass will become harder to source on global markets”. The report highlighted an expectation among policymakers of “imports of biomass to have ceased by 2050, with domestic sources providing all the biomass required”. It said, “there are competing pressures on land use at home - for example, food production and reforestation.”
Related concerns about the sustainability of bio transport fuels and the need for assurance have contributed to the differential treatment of transport biofuels highlighted by ePURE.
In a December 2023 report, ‘The EU’s support for sustainable biofuels in transport - An unclear route ahead’, the EU’s European Court of Auditors found that “EU biofuels policy lacked stability, mainly because of sustainability challenges, and that 2020 targets had not been reached by most member states”. It added, “We found that the priorities in terms of biofuel types have shifted over time. The lack of policy predictability may increase risks for private investments and reduce the attractiveness of the sector. Furthermore, uncertainties about the categorisation of advanced biofuels may pose risks for long-term investments.”
The Court of Auditors report also warned that, “Greenhouse gas emission savings from biofuels are often over-estimated, which then raises sustainability concerns. Biomass availability limits the deployment of biofuels, and meeting the increased EU climate ambition in transport may require higher imports of biomass or biofuels, thus maintaining energy dependence.”
The report, however, echoed ePURE’s concern over reports of progress that do not expose the effect of multipliers. It said, “Relevant EU legislation allows certain types of biofuels to be double counted for EU targets, but the Commission does not transparently disclose the impact of multipliers on the share of renewable energy in transport” and it recommended more transparency in reporting progress towards targets. It also “identified data inconsistencies between two datasets used for tracking achievement of targets. While the Commission collects data on the consumption of biofuels, it lacks detailed data on the production side.”
