In the framework of its proposed revision of the 2009 directive on renewable energies and its strategy for bio-energies, which it is to present on Wednesday 30 November as part of a broad package of measures to promote the energy transition, the Commission is to propose a gradual but drastic reduction in the share of first-generation bio-fuels in the consumption of fuels in the transport sector between 2020 and 2030, with this share to be reduced from 7% to 3.8% by the end of this period.
Following long and hard-fought deliberations between the Council and the European Parliament on the directive aiming to take account of the impact of indirect land-used change (ILUC) in the sustainability criteria of bio-fuels, the EU decided in June 2014 to set the share of first-generation biofuels (bio-fuels produced from agri-food crops) at 7% in fuel consumption in the transport sector by 2020 (see EUROPE 11100).
The Commission, which made an earlier proposal, in 2008, to limit first-generation bio-fuels to 5%, now intends to go further, reducing their share by 0.3 percentage points a year until 2025, and then by 0.4 percentage points a year until 2030. It will also make a proposal for the member states to be able to set even lower limits if they so choose. Furthermore, bio-ethanol and bio-diesel would once again be subject to equal treatment.
Additionally, the Commission is expected to propose introducing increasing targets for the inclusion of second-generation bio-fuels (so-called advanced bio-fuels, from biomass, agricultural and forest waste and algae). The figures have yet to be set, but the Commission may propose to increase their share from 1.25% in 2021 to 5.5% in 2030. In the 2015 directive on renewable energies, the non-binding objective for advanced bio-fuels is set at 0.5% in 2020.
Furthermore, the Commission will propose tightening up the sustainability criteria for bio-fuels, to improve the preservation of certain ecosystems (humid areas, forests, etc.).
This entire raft of proposals comes in the framework of, firstly, the target of 27% of renewable energies in the energy mix (primary energy consumption) of the EU and, secondly, of the objective of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40% compared to 1990 levels between now and 2030. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)