European Commission proposes that only sustainably produced biofuels count towards renewable energy targets

The European Commission has proposed that only sustainable produced biofuels and bioliquids would count towards the EU’s renewable energy targets, and will release a final report December 31st on requirements for a sustainability scheme for solid energy use of biomass.

The Commission said it is currently working on a proposal for an all-biomass sustainability scheme. The Commission is currently doing stakeholder outreach, including a report on consultations to date here.

A Report tendered from the European Commission to the Biomass Technology Group provides an overview of already existing frameworks for sustainable biomass certification and is available here.

In April, the Sustoil project hosted a conference to advance the plans of its 23-partner group in 10 European nations and the US.  European group to optimize the development of bioenergy crops into fuel, power and heat, food, bioproducts, while also optimizing use of sidestreams generated during farming and harvesting.

The Sustoil group addresses issues of minimizing transportation and storage costs as well as development of advanced bioenergy schemes. The group’s April meeting in Foggia, Italy will include tours of an algae-to-biodiesel research facility. The two-year project is led by the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence at the University of York and is funded by the European Commission.

Also in April, the European Commission has proposed a five-year extension of punitive, anti-dumping tariffs on US biodiesel, according to a report published in Reuters. The Commission plans calls for duties that range from 213 to 409 euros per tonne. Companies that “cooperated with the EC probe” into dumping received a rate of 335 euros per tonne compared to 409 €/T for “all others”.

ADM, Cargill, Imperium, Green Earth Fuels, World Energy Alternatives received special rates of between 213 and 359 €/T. The proposed revision is expected to take effect next month after a series of approval steps.

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