Although the introduction of a minimum binding 10% biofuels target by energy content in 2020 is obviously very good news for the European ethanol industry, industry association eBIO says “the Commission only went half way and failed to define intermediate targets for biofuels – as it did for the other sectors”.
Robert Vierhout, Secretary-General of eBIO, said that “the experience with the current biofuels directive shows that most of the Member States tend to wait a long time with the measures necessary to promote biofuels. Intermediate targets are thus needed to prevent a rude awakening in 2019 and to step-wise attain the 10% target.”
Mr. Vierhout made his comments in eBIO’s monthly market commentary at Ethanol Statistics. This month, eBIO takes a closer look at the pros and cons of the proposed Renewable Energy Directive. Besides the need for intermediate targets, eBIO also raised questions about the lack of investments in second generation biofuels, the imbalance between energy security and co2 emissions, the limited time frame for depreciation of existing plants, the base emission values for marginal oil and the difference between criteria for biofuels and fossil fuels.
The full article can be found
here.