REA criticises EU plans to limit the use of crop-based biofuels

The aim of the proposals is to accelerate the uptake of ‘second-generation’ biofuels that do not directly compete with food production by using marginal land, the cellulose and lignin parts of plants or feedstocks such as algae and waste.

However, the REA says it will choke future investment into the industry.

‘We’re asking for something proportionate and phased,’ Clare Wenner, head of transport at REA, told The Engineer. ‘At the moment, the so-called second generation will not come in such a short of time frame.’

The European biofuels sector is estimated to be worth €17bn (£14bn) a year, while a total of around £1bn has been invested in the production of biofuels in the UK.

If implemented, the EU proposals will limit crop biofuels to no more than half of the 10 per cent target for renewable transport with immediate effect; remove all subsidies for crop-based biofuels post 2020; and retrospectively introduce a 60 per cent GHG saving requirement for all new biofuels plant in operation after July 2012.