EU laws requiring member states to use “at least 10%” renewable energy in transport will be scrapped after 2020, the European Commission confirmed, hoping to set aside a protracted controversy surrounding the environmental damage caused by biofuels.

The European Commission will table a revision of the Renewable Energy Directive at the end of 2016, aiming to further push renewable sources like wind and solar across the European Union.

On transport, “we will look specifically at the challenges and opportunities of renewable fuels including biofuels”, said Marie C. Donnelly, Director for Renewables at the European Commission.

The current directive, adopted in 2008, requires each EU member state to have “at least 10%” renewable energy used in transport by 2020 – including from biofuels and other sources like green electricity.

This has drawn criticism in Britain, where reaching the 10% target will require doubling current biofuel supply, adding a further penny per litre on pump prices, according to a leaked memo by the Department for Transport.

But the 10% target will be dropped in the new directive, Donnelly told a breakfast seminar organised at the European Parliament on Tuesday (3 May).

“What’s not going to be in the text is a target for the transport sector,” she said, confirming a decision by EU leaders in October 2014 to have only one target for renewable energies across the 28 EU member states that “will not be translated into nationally binding targets”.

“The continuation of the sub-target for the transport sector is something that has not been accepted and will not be continued in our proposal at the end of this year,” she told the event, organised by Kaidi, a Finnish firm producing biodiesel from wood-based biomass.

Cap on food-based biofuels

First generation biofuels – those derived from food crops – have been at the centre of an intense controversy regarding their effects on the environment, with scientists warning they contribute to deforestation and food scarcity.

A recent study for the Commission found the indirect land use change of biofuels to be bigger than previously thought, leading environmentalists to warn they are more polluting than fossil fuels, a claim strongly refuted by the industry.

Biodiesel worse for the environment than fossil fuels, warn green campaigners Instead of reducing emissions, using biodiesel in transport will increase polluting emissions by 4%, the same as putting an extra 12 million cars on the road in 2020, green campaigners have said.

Hoping to end the controversy, EU legislators passed a separate directive last year to reduce the indirect land use change of biofuels.

The new law limits to 7% the use of harmful biofuels which compete with crops grown on agricultural land, while allowing member states to set lower national limits. It also sets an indicative 0.5% target for so-called second generation biofuels, whose contribution would count double towards the 10% renewable energy target for transport.

Parliament rubber stamps EU biofuels reform amid final controversy The European Parliament gave its final approval on Tuesday (28 April) to a law limiting the use of crop-based biofuel in the transport sector.

Incorporation obligation

So end of story? Not quite.

Environmentalists are now worried that the European Commission will continue pushing biofuels in the form of an “incorporation obligation” requiring minimum amounts of ethanol to be blended in automotive and aviation fuels.

The idea was first floated in November when the executive launched a public consultation to revise the renewable energy directive (see p.22 of the consultation document).

“The subtle shift is to tell the fuel suppliers what to do instead of telling the member states what to do,” says Jos Dings, Executive Director of Transport & Environment, an environmental campaign group. “If a blending mandate is off the table, we would be very happy about it.”

CEN, an EU standardisation body, currently allows for up to 10% ethanol to be blended into gasoline, a standard called E10 which created defiance among consumers in Germany when it was first rolled out five years ago.

Germany hosts crisis 'summit' over E10 biofuel Berlin's attempts to implement an EU law requiring a 10% share of biofuels to be used in transport by 2020 have hit a wall as a majority of German drivers are avoiding the new E10 biofuel standard over fears it could damage car engines. A special summit is taking place today to address the issue.

With the 10% target for transport gone after 2020, biofuel makers are hoping a mandatory standard can be introduced to have a minimum blending of biofuels into petrol or gasoline.

“An important element is the blending mandate, setting clear percentage of biofuels,” said Pekka Koponen, Managing Director of Kaidi Finland, the Finnish energy company that was supporting the Parliament event.

Koponen stressed the importance of setting a blending target for the biofuels industry, saying it would be more efficient than any other tax incentive or direct subsidy. “Now for the EU 2030 target, please continue setting the target and make it aggressive enough,” he said at the event.

7% cap in question

Donnelly said “a key element” of the new regulatory framework for renewables post-2020 will be to decide what happens with the 7% cap on biofuels that can be counted towards the 10% target for renewable energy in transport.

“Clearly this is an important question,” she said insisting that the biofuels sector needed regulatory stability after 2020 when the 10% target expires.

“It is important, I believe, that the legislative framework delivers a clear message that gives clarity to that sector,” she stressed.

Donnelly refused to be drawn on how this could be achieved however, saying it will be “a political decision” by the 28-strong College of Commissioners.

“For the moment we are in dialogue. We will continue with our modelling regarding the costs and implications” of dropping the 10% target, she explained, mentioning that the analysis will look into wider impacts on the economy, including imports of biofuels and jobs in Europe.

Jos Dings, from Transport & Environment, said he was worried that the minimum blending standard would become obligatory.

“Interesting,” said Donnelly when asked by Dings about plans for an “incorporation obligation” on automotive fuels. “Actually, I should take note.”