EU considers strengthening biofuels sustainability criteria
Tue 01 April 2008
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The European Union may be about to toughen sustainability standards for biofuels. Following a Council of Ministers meeting, the EU's Slovenian Presidency has circulated a proposal under which, from 2015, biofuels sold in the EU would have to achieve a net life-cycle greenhouse gas saving of 50% over conventional fuels.
ENDS reports that the new proposal represents a rapid strengthening from the 35% greenhouse gas saving proposed for biofuels in January 2008, a figure which was included in a draft renewable energy directive that also aims to implement the EU plan to increase the share of biofuels in transport to 10 per cent by 2020.
In a new addition to the proposals, EU governments are also considering disqualifying biofuel imports from countries that do not "ratify and effectively implement" a minimum number of international environmental, social and worker protection treaties.
This could mean that biofuel exporting countries would have to sign up to at least ten of sixteen agreements, including UN climate, biodiversity and wildlife trade treaties. Biofuels produced from forests and wetlands would remain disallowed, as the commission proposed.
According to ENDS, there remains a caveat to the proposals; If there were "compelling evidence" that the sustainability criteria are hindering biofuel supply or creating "undue trade restrictions", the EU's comitology procedure could be used to reduce the emission savings threshold to 40 per cent, or defer the introduction of the threshold altogether.
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