Despite earlier promises of the European Commission to phase out food-based biofuels, a recently leaked draft proposal on renewable energy proposes to keep 3.8% of them in Europe’s transport fuel mix; only 1.1 percentage points down from the current 4.9% level. The Commission needs to stick to its promise and propose to phase-out palm-oil and other vegetable biodiesel by 2025, and land-based ethanol by 2030. This gives enough time for the industry to recover investments made and transition to a production of the second generation biofuels.
Europe keeps burning more palm oil in its diesel cars and trucks
The use of palm oil for biodiesel has been increasing in the EU - 3.35 Million tonnes of it was used in 2015. Currently 46% of palm oil imported to the EU is used for biodiesel, requiring around 1 million hectares of tropical land. The three largest producers of palm oil biodiesel are Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, accounting for 80% of production. Italy and Spain are also large users, while the Netherlands exports most of its palm biodiesel. The three countries consume 38% of what they produce, while the remaining 62% is used in the rest of the EU member states - thus making palm oil use a European issue.
