The Farm Europe think-tank sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, Apóstolos Tzitzikóstas, on Wednesday 3 June, urging the Commission to recognise plant-based biofuels produced in the EU as sustainable biofuels in the Renewable Energy Directive (REDIII).
This request follows an exchange of views between the Commission and MEPs on a draft delegated act to classify soya as a raw material presenting a high risk of indirect land use change (ILUC), in the Agriculture Committee on Monday 1 June (see EUROPE 13878/9).
According to Farm Europe, plant-based biofuels “do not carry a high indirect land-use change risk, have not contributed to higher food prices or land displacement, and generate significant co-products”.
The think tank insists that, against a backdrop of increasing land abandonment due to insufficient farm profitability, the Commission should “strengthen the demand from EU crop-based biofuel production”.
Farm Europe is also asking the Commission to uphold the principle of technological neutrality, including in “the ongoing revision of CO2 standards for light- and heavy-duty vehicles” (see EUROPE 13880/18). (Original version in French by Nadège Delépine)