The European Commission is in the process of finalising a delegated act establishing criteria for the certification of biofuels derived from low-risk biomass to induce indirect land use changes (ILUC low-risk biofuels for Indirect Land Use Change).
The Commission is planning to discuss this subject of the certification of imported biofuels at the next meeting of the College of European Commissioners on Wednesday 6 February.
In a letter to the Commission dated 29 January, EU agricultural organisations and cooperatives (Copa-Cogeca) expressed concern about possible weaknesses in its planned scheme to eliminate biofuels that pose a 'high risk of land use change', such as palm oil-based biofuels (see EUROPE 12174). Organisations are concerned that the directive may have some loopholes that would allow imports of high-risk biofuels from ILUC to be certified as low-risk.
The new Renewable Energy Directive, adopted at the end of 2018, provides for the phasing out of these biofuels from 2023 (until 2030). In order to make their phasing out operational and in particular to make it compatible with WTO (World Trade Organisation) rules, the Commission is finalising a delegated act laying down criteria for the certification of biofuels derived from low-risk biomass to induce indirect land use changes.
For Copa-Cogeca, this delegated act “must establish legally binding provisions to prevent circumvention of this political agreement”. It calls for observatories to be set up to evaluate deforestation trends. The delegated act should also include the publication of periodic reports and provisions allowing the European Commission to prohibit the issue of certificates ‘for low risk of ILUC' when deforestation persists in the countries concerned. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)