Is there a future for biofuels in the EU? – In 2021, the European Union adopted the European Climate Act, pledging to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, with the ultimate goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Among the strategies to achieve these goals, the use of biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels has gained prominence.
Although biofuels are now an integral part of EU climate and energy policies, their consumption in transport, which includes road, air, rail and sea, remains marginal. With the transport sector responsible for a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions over the last 30 years, there is a need to assess whether biofuels can actually help reverse this trend.
Currently, around 93% of the energy used in road and rail transport comes from fossil fuels, posing a considerable challenge to achieving the European Commission’s target of a 90% reduction in emissions by 2050.
A new report by the European Court of Auditors will assess the effectiveness of EU support for the development of biofuels, providing a clear analysis of the role they could play in this scenario.
Biofuels, which can be first or second generation, are seen as a potential solution to decarbonise the transport sector. While first-generation biofuels are traditionally produced from food raw materials such as starch sugar or edible oils, second-generation biofuels, known as advanced biofuels, use non-food biomass.
The debate on the effectiveness and efficiency of biofuels takes place against a backdrop of the EU’s growing climate ambitions, with the additional goal of making all new vehicles sold in the EU CO2 neutral by 2035. The recent war in Ukraine has also accentuated the importance of energy independence and reignited the debate on the sustainability of biofuels, considering the dispute ‘food versus fuel’.
The Court of Auditors’ report, available here, will be crucial in determining whether biofuels can actually play a significant role in achieving the EU’s climate goals in the transport sector.
Is there a future for biofuels in the EU?
