The EU is committed to meeting 10% of its transport fuel needs from renewable sources – mostly biofuels – by 2020. But pressure is growing to change this policy by limiting the amount of food–based biofuels.
In response to these concerns, Parliament's environment committee voted on 11 July in favour of a proposal to set a 5.5% cap for fuel produced from food crops such as rapeseed and palm oil.
Also, committee members want to distinguish between better and worse–performing food–based biofuels by taking into account emissions related to the change of land use when calculating greenhouse gas emissions savings attributed to biofuels.
Before these plans can be carried out, they will still need to be approved by MEPs during the plenary session on 10 September as well as by member states, which are divided on the issue.
As the battle over EU biofuels policy continues, read our new series of articles to find out more.
REF. : 20130719STO17435
