Belgium: EU planning new biofuels legislation
Tuesday, May 29, 2007, AutomotiveWorld.com
The European Commission (EC) plans to introduce new initiatives in November, aiming at encouraging the use of biofuels so as to reduce emissions, according to a Reuters report.
Paul Hodson, an EC official, says that the Commission is keen to define a minimum sustainability standard under which biofuel companies will not be eligible to receive state funding if the standards were not met.
In March, the EC agreed to set a mandatory target for biofuels to comprise at least 10% of gasoline and diesel fuel used by vehicles by 2020.
Hodson said that to be sustainable, biofuels must have a minimum level of emissions compared with fossil fuels, from production to actual use, and the land used to produce biofuels should not have a high biodiversity quota, i.e. house a variety of plants or animals, which would be displaced or destroyed by clearing the land. The draining of wetlands to grow biofuel crops will also be discouraged as these normally store carbon.
The legislation will also promote biofuels processed from wood and straw, Hodson added. He said that the EU will allow limited biofuel imports from developing countries while meeting most of its biofuel requirements through local production.
Meanwhile, Thomas Smitham, an official from the US Mission to the EU in Brussels, criticised the move and called such criteria "complicated".
Published on Tuesday, May 29, 2007
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