Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands want EU to get serious on biofuel sustainability

In Belgium, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands issued a statement saying it is crucial to ensure that the renewable energy, such as biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin, that is used in transport is without a doubt sustainable. However, recent biodiesel fraud cases have undermined the confidence that citizens, the market and Member States need to have in the sustainability of this market. Analysis that was carried out after judicial investigation to fraud with biodiesel, has shown1that mainly relying on certification and private oversight is not sufficient to structurally ensure sustainability. The cases have shown us that consistent and stronger public supervision on the European market is necessary to reduce the risk of fraud, since public supervision bodies have the competence to actually commit to truth finding and check whether or not data is correct. The European minimum requirement for public supervision in the RED II should go beyond the current scope of article 30(9) which requires that “competent authorities of the Member States shall supervise the operation of certification bodies that are conducting independent auditing under a voluntary scheme”. The above-mentioned Member States, therefore: 

Welcome the RED II revision in order to bring the ambitions for transport in line with the goals of the European Green Deal and to further ensure that the level of supervision is equipped to cope with the upscaling market. 

Call upon the European Commission to review all options that strengthen both public and private supervision to ensure that the sustainability criteria are upheld, since sustainability is the license to operate for achieving higher targets.

Support the extension of the minimum requirement for public supervision of RED II article 30(9), obliging Member States to also supervise all links in the supply chain within the Member State. The supervision should be risk-based and work with the information that is already available from the certification schemes.

Demand a quick and ambitious deployment of the European database mentioned in the article 28 of the directive, with the establishment of an EU supervision body charged with detecting and investigating suspicious trends from the database. This database would have to maximize synergies with existing national reporting processes, and reduce additional administrative burden to a minimum.