The EU is entering the next phase with the Renewable Energy bill

Making sustainable transport fuels
However, the cut-off value for GHG savings, which is set at 35% needs further consideration. To start with, the fossil fuel reference value is much too low and does not reflect reality. Biofuels replace the marginal oil, which is the one that is most costly and energy-intensive to retrieve, such as oil from Canadian tar sands or deep-sea drilling. Actually, this should thus be used as a reference.
Secondly, the default values for GHG savings are kept very low on purpose. This forces most of the producers to provide evidence that they can do better than these default values, which means a bureaucratic hassle. Additionally, picking relatively low default values compared to typical values harms the image of the whole industry.
Thirdly, the proposal foresees that all plants coming on-stream after 1 January 2008 need to comply immediately with the 35% cut-off value. This is like changing the rules during the game: By the time companies decided to build a plant, which takes on average 18 months, there was no discussion on sustainability criteria let alone a provision in place. Plants having been operational before have a grandfather until 1 April 2013. This probably is an April fool’s joke! If one assumes a depreciation time of about 10 years and knowing that most of the present plants were not operating in 2003 but about two years later 1 April 2015 is a much more reasonable date.
Another unanswered question is why sustainability criteria only apply to biofuels. Biofuel feedstock only makes up a small part of global agricultural production. In order to hedge effectively against negative impacts of agricultural activity sustainability criteria need to apply to all biomass regardless its end use including foodstuff. Also fossil fuels should be subject to sustainability criteria to create a true level-playing field.

Keep on track
The Commission proposal is on the right track. Especially the 10% obligation is a crucial instrument and softening it to a voluntary exercise (as proposed by a number of NGOs and Green party politicians) will have a lot of unwanted effects. We will not reduce our road transport emissions soon, we will not reduce our dependency on imported oil, we will not create new opportunities for our farmers, we will not provide an incentive for developing producing advanced biofuels and we will not have sustainability criteria. Biofuels have a great potential and need the right legislative framework to fulfill the core objectives of EU renewable energy policy and to contribute to economic growth in the EU. The EU ethanol fuel industry is confident that the EU legislator will acknowledge the overall positive impact of domestic biofuels production by putting in place a balanced Directive as soon as possible.