Carbon reduction targets for fuel as Europe follows Schwarzenegger’s California

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A proposed review of the EU ‘fuel quality directive’ requires the climate impact of road fuels, per unit of energy, to decrease by 10% by 2020.

The news followed a proposal made two weeks earlier, which said 10% of all road transport fuels should be biofuels by 2020. Only the day before, the California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that California would be adopting a Low Carbon Fuel Standard. This will require fuel providers to ensure that, by 2020, all fuels must contribute to a 10% reduction in CO₂ emissions in their production process.

T&E director Jos Dings said: “Until now, Europe’s approach to alternatives like biofuels has been to promote them regardless of whether or not they are good or bad for the environment, or whether other renewable energy might work better. If it’s designed right, this commitment to reducing carbon emissions will ensure that only the cleanest biofuels are promoted and the production process of fossil fuels is cleaned up. That is a very good approach and we welcome it.”

Environmental groups have called for caution over promoting biofuels as inherently green. There are enormous variations in the well-to-wheel climate performance of different types of biofuel and industrial-scale growth of biofuel crops can put pressure on food supplies and destroy precious rainforests and other sensitive areas that are cleared for agriculture – particularly in the developing world. The decarbonisation target for transport fuels combined with environmental certification for biofuels could address some of these concerns.

EU leaders will discuss the Commission’s proposals at their summit early next month.

This news story is taken from the February 2007 edition of T&E Bulletin.