EU committee votes in favour of food security in update to green fuels law

In the face of a global food crisis, the European Parliament’s ENVI committee has today voted in favour of limiting food crop biofuels in the EU’s green fuels law (RED). The maximum share of food crop biofuels that member states are allowed to use to meet the RED target has significantly decreased. Palm and soy oil are also set to be phased-out immediately in a major win for nature, people and the climate. T&E calls on the European Parliament to go even further and choose food over fuel in next month’s vote on the amendments to the Renewable Energy Directive.

Geert De Cock, electricity and energy manager at T&E, said: “In the face of a global food crisis we cannot afford to burn crops in our cars.The ENVI committee has rightly chosen food over fuel. Phasing out palm and soy immediately and further limiting  other food crop biofuels are major – albeit overdue – improvements to the EU’s green fuels law, that will reduce Europe’s destructive impact on communities and ecosystems around the world. The vote is not perfect, but we are finally moving in the right direction. Now it’s down to Europe’s elected MEPs to vote in favour of a green fuels law that is truly ‘green’.”

T&E has however pointed out a few flaws in the proposed amendments, including a high overall transport target which leaves space for unsustainable fuels, a high target for advanced biofuels without sufficient safeguards and a RED that does not sufficiently reward the efficiency of renewable electricity. T&E’s two-pager explains what needs to be improved.

The next steps for the review of the Renewable Energy Directive are the vote in the ITRE Committee in July and a parliamentary plenary vote in September 2022, followed by trilogue negotiations in the autumn.