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  • Biofuels reform back in European Parliament – view new web documentary

    As the European Parliament’s Environment Committee Rapporteur today presents his report on the reform of Europe’s biofuels policy, a new web documentary explores how the EU has failed to decarbonise transport through biofuels. The web documentary can be found at www.biofuelsreform.org.

    Commissioned by BirdLife Europe, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and Transport & Environment (T&E), the new web documentary features interviews with key MEPs in the file, including rapporteur Nils Torvalds. Talking about first-generation biofuels and the phasing-out of land-based biofuels, lead MEP Nils Torvalds (ALDE) said: “There were fairly heavy investments in first-generation biofuels. I think it’s reasonable to give those who invested a reasonable return on their investments. But I would actually like to see it phased out. When you have got your money back you should probably be able to phase out.”

    Today, the European Parliament will hold the first debate on the biofuels reform. MEPs of the Environment Committee, leading committee on this file, will have until Tuesday 27th January to submit their amendments to Torvalds’ report.  The vote in the Environment Committee is scheduled for 23 or 24 February. A vote in plenary is expected in late April.

    The web documentary features four chapters covering four aspects of the EU’s biofuels reform: how some biofuels drive deforestation, making them worse for the climate than fossil fuels; its impact on global food prices, land use and land grabbing; the battle of the lobbies in Brussels; and the current political positions of each of the three EU institutions.