EWABA welcomes expansion of Annex IX of the EU Renewable Energy Directive

In Belgium, EWABA, representing 55+ stakeholders from the EU waste-based and advanced biodiesel supply chain, welcomed the long-awaited inclusion of additional feedstocks in Annex IX of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). This feedstock expansion will generally broaden the availability of waste-based and advanced biofuels for all transport modes and alleviate part of the pressure on some feedstocks used to produce waste-based biofuels, which have been subject to a high degree of focus.

EWABA members would like to highlight that the introduction of intermediate/cover crops for the supply of fuels exclusively for the aviation industry in part A of Annex IX will have negative consequences as it interferes with the level-playing field across sectors and challenges the principle of technology neutrality, a crucial pillar for investment certainty. We believe that the extra incentive for intermediate/cover crops will direct them towards the aviation industry to the detriment of their use in other hard to decarbonize sectors, such as heavy-duty road and especially the maritime sector.

Given the extremely significant potential availability of the new feedstocks populating the Annex IX1 our association expects the European Commission to issue without delay a separate delegated act eliminating the Annex IX Part B limitation, which goes against the feedstock expansion proposed under the revised list.