Luxembourg, 13/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 13 June, European energy ministers reached a political agreement in Luxembourg on the draft directive aiming to take account of indirect land use change (ILUC) in the sustainability criteria of biofuels. The ministers agreed to limit the share of conventional biofuels (from agricultural crops) to 7% in the consumption of renewable energy in transport by 2020.
“We have reached a very flexible agreement”, said the current president of the Energy Council, Greece's Minister for the Environment, Energy and Climate Change Yiannis Maniatis, after the meeting. “The negotiations to reach this compromise have ended up reducing our ambitions, but that's better than not taking a decision at all”, European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger told the ministers.
The draft ILUC directive - which will amend Directives 98/70/EC on fuel quality and 2009/28/EC on promoting renewable energy - aims to limit the impact of ILUC on greenhouse gas emissions, while protecting current investment in the production of biofuels.
The Energy Council did not manage to reach an agreement in December 2013 on a compromise proposed the Lithuanian Presidency (which held the rotating presidency of the EU Council at that time). Since then, the negotiations have been laborious, but the Greek Presidency tied up a compromise which won over a qualified majority of member states to adopt it. Denmark, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland lifted their reservations on the draft text, and only Belgium and Portugal rejected the Greek compromise.
The Greek Presidency focused on two areas in order to extricate the text from stalemate at the Council - measures to encourage the use of advanced biofuels, while leaving member states room for manoeuvre; and additional elements reflecting considerations on estimated ILUC emissions and the possible impact of EU policies on biofuels as regards the environment and cross-compliance in respect of agriculture and climate policies.
As in the Lithuanian Presidency's proposal, the text provides for a 7% ceiling for first generation biofuels (from agricultural crops) in the 10% renewable energy target in the fuel consumption of transport by 2020.
In order to encourage the transition to second generation biofuels (from agricultural and forestry waste, or seaweed), the text includes a binding sub-target of at least 0.5% production of these so-called advanced biofuels in the 10% renewables target in transport. The member states can set a lower target on the basis of three categories of objective reasons (the lack of potential for advanced biofuels production at a competitive cost in a country concerned; the technical specificity of the local transport market; and considerable financial support for the use of renewable electricity for transport) and they will have to notify the reasons why the national target is not achieved.
The text also provides for the new Annex IX of the renewables directive listing raw materials for advanced biofuels that count double towards the targets. Furthermore, advanced biofuels not listed in Annex IX and used in existing installations prior to the adoption of this directive can be counted towards the national target. In addition, further incentives are planned in favour of advanced biofuels by extending the tool of statistical transfers of the renewables directive to cover such advanced biofuels, the double counting of the contribution of these biofuels being extended to the overall renewable energy targets.
Incentive measures are also planned for the production of electricity from renewable energy sources so as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in transport. In this regard, a multiplication factor of 5 for electricity from renewable sources in electric road vehicles, and of 2.5 for electrified rail transport, is introduced.
Lastly, the text includes a review clause that provides for the possibility of introducing adjusted estimated ILUC factors into the sustainability criteria.
The political agreement tied up on Friday will be followed by the formal adoption of the Council position at first reading, so that the Council can then negotiate with the European Parliament at second reading. “This will be difficult”, said Italy's deputy minister for industry, Claudio de Vicenti, on Friday, whose country is due to take on the Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers on 1 July. While the Commission's initial draft text proposed limiting the share of first generation biofuels to 5% in transport, the European Parliament has said it wants a 6% limit and a 2.5% sub-target for advanced biofuels. (EH)