Brussels, 19/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 18 June, EU environment ministers took note of a progress report from the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU concluding that there was, for the moment, difficulty in finding consensus among the member states on the proposal to take into account the ILUC factor in the production of biofuels competing with global food production and to encourage the production of second-generation biofuels. The same observation was made by the Energy Council on 7 June (see EUROPE 10862). Phil Hogan, the outgoing president of the Environment Council, indicated that the Irish Presidency would still be submitting a revised proposal at the next Council working group meeting, in an effort to facilitate matters for the Lithuanian presidency.
The brief interventions of some delegations (United Kingdom, Austria, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic) confirmed the divergence of views. The British delegation indicated that it would be unable to agree to some of the sub-objectives on fuel quality. Spain cannot accept the 5% cap when calculating the contribution of first-generation biofuels to the objective of 10% renewable energies in transport by 2020 and considers that the alternative of setting out objectives for advanced biofuels, is a move in the right direction. Austria stressed that the 5% cap would jeopardise the 10% renewables objective in transport and welcomed the Presidency's proposal for examining a binding 2% baseline for second-generation biofuels - an option about which the Czech delegation harbours doubt - and considers that “the ILUC factor is not an efficient instrument for reducing the impact of biofuels on land use change”. The Dutch delegation believes that the 5% cap is necessary if biofuel policy is to become sustainable. The Slovak delegation said that they should act with caution so that the investment already made in first-generation biofuels are taken into account. It also expressed misgivings about the binding objectives and pointed out that Slovak production of biofuels from farming will not have an impact on soil change. Like the Czech delegation, it also called for automatic reciprocal recognition of certificates issued, irrespective of the biofuel production phase.
Connie Hedegaard, Commissioner for Climate Action, said that, despite the differing points of view, she was convinced that “the proposal on the table was balanced because it took into account economic and environmental considerations and sent the industry a clear message that it was moving forward with biofuel production, whilst taking into account the issue of greenhouse gas emissions”. The commissioner argued for maintaining the ceiling on conventional biofuels in renewable energies and keeping the ILUC factor in the member states' reports under the two directives that the text intended to amend: Directive 98/70/EC on petrol and diesel fuel quality and Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of energy produced from renewable sources. Parliament will vote on the matter in September. (AN/transl.fl)