About: advanced biofuels
Palm oil to be phased out in EU by 2030
The use of palm oil as fuel should disappear in Europe by 2030 under a reform of the bloc’s renewable energy laws agreed this morning after all-night negotiations.OpinionPromoted content
RED II Council pressure for double counting renewables must be rejected
Europe’s proposed climate and energy legislation allows for ‘double counting’ of renewable energy used in transport, creating the illusion that the EU is moving towards fulfilling its commitments in transport, and making some in Brussels feel good, when all the while fossil emissions are steadily rising.OpinionPromoted content
Flawed Commission advanced biofuel costings fail taxpayers and consumers
Key European Commission documents refer to substantial cost savings when transitioning from conventional to advanced biofuels. This cost saving claim is actively implied but never explained, nor are solid references provided. It is just presented as a fact in important decision-supporting documents.
Biofuels: ‘Waste and residues’ need clear criteria to avoid system’s misuse
The criteria for "waste and residues" should be so defined clearly in the EU legislation that the system cannot be misused and allowed to endanger sustainability, Robert Spišák told EURACTIV.com in a written interview.
Debate on costs of advanced biofuels heats up
The debate on the technologies available to produce second-generation biofuels, and their related costs, is heating up in Brussels amid disagreement over the European Commission’s estimates.
RED II – Europe’s €25 billion blunder
The Commission’s ‘strategy’ is to phase out conventional biofuels in the hope that they will miraculously be replaced by ‘advanced’ biofuels in Europe’s transport energy mix isn’t backed by science or by logic, writes Dick Roche.
EU set bar ‘too high’ on advanced biofuels
The EU needs a more realistic target for advanced biofuels in transport, green campaigners have warned, saying proper sustainability criteria should be introduced to avoid the “mistakes of the past” when biofuels attracted criticism for causing deforestation and environmental degradation in the developing world.
Can advanced biofuels really work?
As part of the Renewable Energy Directive review (RED II), the Commission proposed a gradual phase-out of food-based biofuels, which should be replaced by “more advanced biofuels” that do not compete with food crops.
Advanced biofuels ‘not yet viable’, industry study warns
Less than 1% of projected capacity for advanced biofuel production worldwide has become reality, according to ethanol industry researchers who warned policymakers against placing too much hope in the fledgling technology.
EU Parliament ends palm oil and caps crop-based biofuels at 2017 levels
The European Parliament decided today (17 January) to phase-out palm oil by 2021 and cap the crop-based biofuels at the 2017 member states’ consumption levels and no more than 7% of all transport fuels until 2030.
EU needs advanced biofuels boost to reach climate goals, transport decarbonisation
The International Energy Agency confirms that sustainable biofuels are needed to secure transport decarbonisation. The European Parliament’s Industry Committee, for its part, confirms the need to set a specific mandate for advanced biofuels, writes Marko Janhunen. Marko Janhunen is the...
Divided on biofuel phase-out, Parliament looks for compromise
The lawmaker in charge of steering the EU’s biofuels reform in the European Parliament is looking for compromise after MEPs last week rejected his proposal to phase out crop-based biofuels entirely by 2030 and ban palm oil in biodiesel almost a decade earlier.
The dismal prospect of advanced biofuels in the EU
Advanced biofuels are proposed as the next fuels to replace oil, but the EU regulatory environment is fuzzy and uncertain to lure investors and some questionable solutions may benefit the most – in addition to oil, writes Zoltán Szabó.
Hungary says bioethanol phase-out will damage its agricultural economy
The European Commission’s proposal to gradually phase-out first generation biofuels by 2030 will have a “major” negative impact on Hungary’s rural development, the ministry of agriculture told EURACTIV.com.OpinionPromoted content
Renewable Energy Directive: Keep molasses for food and feed
The European Parliament ENVI Committee will vote on whether molasses is a feedstock for “advanced” biofuels on 23 October. Since molasses is a food and feed material used for yeast, bread, beer, confectionery and animal feed, it should not be seen as a raw material for “advanced” biofuels, according to several European food and feed associations.
A sticky matter: Sugar molasses dent EU’s ambitions on advanced biofuels
Sugar molasses, which the European Commission sees as "advanced" biofuel, present many of the same problems as conventional biofuels – including a potential increase in food prices and land competition for food production. But their definition as biofuels keeps the sugar industry happy, EURACTIV.com has learned.
Phasing-out biofuels: What’s really at stake?
The European Commission's proposal to limit the use of biofuels in transport has drawn heated reactions from farmers who have warned about the effects on jobs and the economy.
Anti-biofuel ideologues support the oil status quo
Anti-biofuel ideologues claim to be pro-climate and pro-development. But their positions, in fact, support the oil status quo, the concentration of power in the energy sector in the hands of large multinationals and the decline of the EU farming sector, writes Eric Sievers.
MEPs criticise Commission’s ‘flawed’ policy on post-2020 biofuels
The European Commission's “scientifically unfounded” U-turn on biofuels will have significant implications for the agriculture sector and risks increasing the imports of GM animal feed from third countries, lawmakers warn.
Wrong assumptions could lead to phase-out of conventional biofuels
The European Commission cannot be trusted in its call to invest in advanced biofuels as experience with first generation biofuels set a negative precedent, writes Elmar Baumann.
New trade deals jeopardise EU green transport goals, NGO warns
Upcoming free trade deals with biofuel-producing countries in Asia and South America will undermine the European Union's goals to decarbonise the transport sector, an NGO has warned.
FAO official: Food-based biofuels not necessarily bad
Brazil demonstrates that sugar cane cultivation can supply both food and ethanol for fuel without harming the environment or pushing up food prices, a senior official from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has said.
Industry and farmers see biofuels as a crucial market ‘outside CAP’
Farmers see biofuels as a crucial source of income but investors clashed with NGOs at an event organised by EURACTIV last week (12 May), over the European Commission’s post-2020 biofuels proposal and the realities of its impact on rural areas.