Article 7a of the directive says lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from transport fuels must be reduced by 6% by 2020, a move environmental NGOs welcomed when it was agreed two years ago.
But in developing a methodology for calculating emissions from fuel, the Commission has proposed setting just one default emissions value for oil-derived petrol and one for diesel, which would treat fuels produced from highly greenhouse-gas-intensive tar sands the same as less damaging sources of oil.
The letter to Hedegaard says the single emissions value, which is believed to have resulted from pressure from Canada and the oil industry, would ‘remove any incentive to clean up oil extraction and processing methods’.