The European Parliament's energy committee voted to require at least 10 percent of road transport fuel in 2020 to come from renewable sources led by biofuels while adding checks to prevent land damage and food shortages.
The committee said at least 4 percent of energy in European Union road transport in 2020 should come from biofuels that don't compete with food crops or from other renewable sources like green electricity. The panel today in Brussels also urged a review by 2014 of the overall 10 percent goal, part of an EU push to fight climate change and reduce reliance on oil imports.
In addition, the committee imposed an interim target for renewables in EU road transport of 5 percent in 2015 and said at least a fifth of this goal should be met without traditional biofuels, made from crops such as rapeseed, wheat, corn and sugar. These biofuels, the main renewable energy for transport, risk displacing food production unless a “second generation'' of fuels from non-food sources like farm and industry waste is developed.
“We are beginning in a gentle way,'' said Fiona Hall, a U.K. member of the 27-nation EU Parliament. “This is a good way.'' The draft law, which would impose the targets for renewable energy in transport on each member country, still needs the support of the full 785-seat assembly and European national governments.
Global Warming
Biofuels, which include ethanol and biodiesel, offer the prospect of reducing the use of fossil fuels blamed for global warming. They also help the EU diversify its energy mix and lessen dependency on oil- and natural-gas producing countries. The European Commission, the EU's regulatory arm, proposed in January the 10 percent requirement for renewable energy in transport in 2020 on every member state.
Since then, food-price increases have revived concerns in Europe and elsewhere about biofuels. Wheat and corn prices will probably rise as much as 7 percent in the next 10 years as a result of greater U.S. and European production of alternative fuels, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in July.
The Parliament's energy committee set environmental protection standards for biofuels to be counted toward the renewable targets in a bid to prevent growth in trade from leading to land damage in exporting nations such as Brazil. One requirement would be that biofuels production lead to a saving on greenhouse-gas emissions of at least 45 percent initially and 60 percent as of 2015.
Biofuel Proponents
The proposed 2014 review of the 10 percent target in 2020 is a compromise between biofuel proponents and skeptics including environmental groups, which had wanted the goal scrapped. Friends of the Earth Europe repeated its opposition to biofuels made from food crops and signaled the fight over the 2020 target will continue.
“Using crops to feed cars is a false solution to our climate problems,'' Friends of the Earth Europe said. In 2014, the EU must carry out “a major review into its impacts before any further increases.''
The European Bioethanol Fuel Association representing producers including Germany's CropEnergies AG supports the 10 percent target in 2020. The association criticized the planned 2014 review, saying it would undermine “investment security.''
The association also objected to the proposed segmentation of the interim 2015 goal of 5 percent. Limiting traditional biofuels to four-fifths of that target — or 4 percent of road transport energy — “imposes a standstill'' because these biofuels already have a 3 percent market share, said the group.
Cargill
The European Biodiesel Board, which represents about 60 companies including Germany's Verbio AG and Finland's Neste Oil Oyj as well as European units of Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Cargill Inc., echoed this point, expressing “deep disappointment'' with the proposed target segments.
The draft EU law goes beyond transport fuel by aiming to raise the overall share of energy from renewable sources including wind and solar power in the EU to an average 20 percent by 2020 from 8.5 percent. The 20 percent average goal would also be achieved through varying general renewable-energy targets for individual member states. The targets are as a percentage of energy consumption.
The energy committee endorsed the country-specific overall targets proposed by the commission. These range from 10 percent for Malta to 49 percent for Sweden.
Combine Targets
The U.K., Germany and Poland are leading a push to let EU countries combine their targets, highlighting concerns about the cost of the planned rules. The idea gained backing from other EU governments in July.
The energy committee gave its support to the plan today while demanding a system under which EU regulators could impose “direct penalties'' on countries that miss their objectives.
The targets for the three countries sponsoring the flexibility plan are 15 percent for the U.K., 18 percent for Germany and 15 percent for Poland. Those compare to 2005 market shares of 1.3 percent for the U.K., 5.8 percent for Germany and 7.2 percent for Poland.
Claude Turmes, a Green-Party member steering the draft renewable-energy law through the EU Parliament, said the bloc is on track to reach an overall accord in December under a fast- track strategy that increases the importance of his committee's verdict. Turmes, whose faction is the Parliament's fourth- biggest, brokered today's energy-committee deal, which was approved by a vote of 50-2.
“We will have responsible policies,'' said Turmes, who is from Luxembourg. He said the EU needed to approve the draft law by year end to bolster the chances for a new global agreement to fight climate change.
Greenhouse-Gas Emissions
The renewable-energy legislation is part of a package that aims to reduce EU greenhouse-gas emissions at least 20 percent by 2020 compared with 1990. The package also includes draft laws to tighten caps in 2013-2020 on energy and manufacturing companies covered by the European emissions-trading system, set varying national targets for limiting greenhouse gases from industries outside the trading program and promote the underground storage of carbon dioxide, the main pollutant blamed for climate change.
The EU Parliament's environment committee is handling these parts of the package and is due to vote on them Oct. 7. The EU aims for an overall agreement by year end.
Most Europeans support the EU goals or want the bloc to do more, the commission said today in a statement that accompanied a survey of public opinion on climate change.
