New EU Biofuel Legislation until 2020 - April 2009
In December 2008, the EU’s long-awaited ‘Climate Action and Renewable Energy Policy Package’ (popularly referred to as the 20-20-20 policy or new Renewable Energy Directive) was finally endorsed by the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission.
The new Directive includes provisions for biofuels which will replace the Biofuel Directive of 2003 that expires at the end of 2010. The adoption of a mandatory 10 percent consumption target of renewable energy in land (road and rail) transport provides a long-term considerable opportunity for the current EU biofuel industry. However, the step-wise binding targets for minimum greenhouse gas emission savings and the future requirements for sustainability of feedstock represent considerable challenges for many of the current producers.
In addition, the switch from a ‘biofuel target’ to a ‘renewable target’ and the upcoming of next generation biofuels mean that the current industry will face competition from other alternatives to fossil fuels in the future. As a result of these factors, the EU established biofuel industry is looking at a certain but unclear off-take of their products in the long term.
However, it is also faced with a growing number of market uncertainties. In this report, the impact on the existing and future EU first generation biofuels industry is analysed both qualitative as quantitative.
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