Brussels, 13/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 11 September, Copa-Cogeca opposed the MEPs' vote on plans to impose ILUC factors and an upper limit of 6% on the use of biofuels from arable crops.
“Farmers in industry have invested huge amounts of money in the sector after the EU institutions agreed in 2006 to ensure that 10% of transport fuels come from renewable energy sources by 2020. A U-turn in their approach to reduce this limit to 6% is totally acceptable”, said Pekka Pesonen. He argues that the decision jeopardises the EU's energy and climate change targets and “feed supplies for animals and some 200,000 jobs, mostly in rural areas”.
The co-products from conventional biofuel production, such as rapeseed meal, beet pulp and dried distillers' grains, play an important role on the feed protein markets and in the EU food chain, where the EU is facing an ever-increasing shortage. Conventional biofuel production is an efficient way to rebalance the EU's plant protein deficit, increase the stability of the commodity markets and prices for consumers and farmers and make full use of the EU production capacity to stimulate green growth in rural areas, Pesonen argues. A new study also shows that the EU is not threatening food supplies or causing food price hikes in the rest of the world through the production of biofuels. “For these reasons, the share of biofuels from arable crops must be increased to at least 8% and all wastes and residues must be included in the advanced biofuel target”, he adds.
Copa-Cogeca is also opposed to the introduction of ILUC factors for reporting in both of the EU directives, “as there is a lack of sound and reliable science. The model used is not transparent and not suitable for precisely estimating the extent of land-use change and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions, due to critical data errors and important methodological problems. Multiple counting must also be rejected as it misleads the consumer on the true level of renewable sources”. (LC/transl.fl)