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.
