War and political instability have made ending the EU’s dependence on fossil fuel even more urgent than it already was due to the climate crisis.
So why does it come as a bit of happy surprise to hear EU policymakers suddenly talking about biofuels as a transport decarbonisation solution, especially after so many years in which their use has been capped and even threatened with phase-out?
After all, the case for using more sustainable biofuels has been clear for years. The latest European Commission statistics show that EU transport energy is still more than 92% fossil fuel, and only four Member States have reached their 2020 target (you read that right) for renewable energy in transport.
Despite a persistent lack of progress on de-fossilising transport, the EU has been reluctant to use a ready-made solution it already has
Despite this persistent lack of progress on de-fossilising transport, the EU has been reluctant to use a ready-made solution it already has. But lately there’s been a change of tone from EU policymakers, who now talk about the importance of ‘homegrown’ renewable energy sources, including biofuels, as Europe searches for ways to reduce its dependence on imported oil.
Take a look at some recent statements from top EU officials since the start of the Iran war:
Christophe Hansen, the European Commission member in charge of agriculture policy, talked about how EU ethanol biorefineries could be better used to boost domestic food and fuel production. “There is a huge potential to do more,” Hansen said. “We have refineries all over Europe and all of them are under their maximum capacity.”
He also shot down the long-running ‘food vs. fuel’ myth that has been used by anti-biofuel lobbyists to impose limits on how much crop-based biofuels can count towards EU renewable energy targets.
“The ‘tank vs plate’ dilemma belongs to the past,” Hansen said.
There’s more: As EU leaders scrambled to combat the energy crisis created by the Iran conflict, a statement from the Commission’s Directorate for Energy said that “Increasing the uptake of biofuels could help substitute for fossil petroleum products and alleviate pressure on the market.”
But perhaps the most noteworthy words came from the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. In a speech to the European Parliament, von der Leyen said “We must reduce our overdependency on imported fossil fuels and boost our home-grown, affordable, clean energy supply.”
In a letter to German Members of the European Parliament, von der Leyen specifically mentioned E20, a petrol blend with up to 20% renewable ethanol, as a viable alternative to fossil fuel with lesser amounts of biofuel, and suggested the Commission would look at updating the EU’s Fuel Quality Directive to authorise its use.
“The Commission confirms the role that higher biofuel blending can play in decarbonising existing vehicle fleets,” Von der Leyen wrote.
This comes just as the Commission released its AccelerateEU communication aimed at assuring European energy security and reducing dependence on foreign oil, in which it also calls for increased domestic EU production of sustainable biofuels.
Energy independence is also a priority from Member States, and even the incoming Irish Presidency of the EU Council. One top Irish minister was quoted recently as saying “the biggest issue for us as a union is to get to a point of strategic autonomy when it comes to energy.”
Other countries around the world – not just big ethanol producers such as the US and Brazil but also India, Vietnam and Mexico – are moving to replace fossil oil with domestically produced renewable fuel.
It’s time for the EU to unleash the strategic domestic asset it has growing in its own fields: giving EU citizens access to cheaper renewable energy sources, boosting food and feed production and supporting EU agriculture and industry.
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