Briefing

A target for advanced biofuels

June 6, 2017

Sustainable advanced biofuels can provide significant savings of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) compared to fossil fuels, without using productive agricultural land. The European Commission’s proposal on the Renewable Energy Directive II sets a specific sub-target for advanced biofuels. This briefing is an attempt to suggest a more realistic and sustainable target level for advanced biofuels in the new Renewable Energy Directive.

Setting targets is always a risky and uncertain exercise. If a target is set for advanced biofuels, we need to ensure that the target is set at a level which takes into account the development of the bioeconomy and complies with the principles of waste hierarchy and cascading use. Also, a prerequisite to the adoption of a binding target is the adoption of adequate sustainability criteria. This briefing is an attempt to suggest a more realistic and sustainable target level for advanced biofuels in the new Renewable Energy Directive.

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