EU lawmaker seeks compromise ahead of key EU vote on crop biofuels
The lead committee steering an EU bill that seeks to deepen bloc-wide biofuels and renewable energy targets will later this month attempt to broker a compromise between factions of the European Parliament over how tough fresh targets should be, whether nations should have individual targets and whether to allow crop-based fuels.
The European Parliament’s committee on industry, research and energy (ITRE) will later this month seek to weaken the environment committee’s (ENVI) proposal to ban crop-based biofuels by 2030 and deepen the EU renewable energy target to 35% in a bid to get the bill through a full parliamentary vote in January.
According to draft documents circulating in Brussels, the compromise amendments seek to increase the overall EU renewable energy target from the EU Commission’s proposal of 27% to 30%, but fall short of ENVI’s proposal, while capping crop-based biofuels at 7% and reducing it to 3.8% by 2030.
The proposals, which will be put up for a vote in ITRE on November 28, are an attempt to broker a deal on what is an emotive subject among many lawmakers and one that could shape the future of Europe’s fuel industry for the next decade.
In the alphabet soup that is Europe’s lawmaking process, the European Commission acts as the executive and tables proposals to be passed by the two legislative bodies – the European Parliament and the European Council of ministers – which is comprised of ministers from each member state.
The Council and Parliament then give their views on proposals, but the latter generally does so only after it has sought parliamentary committee opinion on the proposals so it can form a common position.
Hence, while the vote in ITRE this month will have no legal impact, it will give an indication to what the Parliament’s final position will be.
However, with opinion now split between different committees, sources said a final vote in the plenary will not now take place until January – a month later than initially thought.
“I don’t think there is any certainty that these compromise amendments will be passed within the ITRE committee,” said Greg Archer, of Brussel’s based environmental lobby group Transport & Environment.
“In reality the issue will be left to the full parliament to vote on because there are just too many differences on the bill. The Commission has a view, the Council has a view and the Parliament are struggling to have one,” another lobbyist said.
Draft council papers seen by sources are expected to keep the target on crop-based biofuels unchanged at 7% by 2030.
GHG
Yet while the crop-based biofuel targets are a key issue, so is whether there is a minimum greenhouse gas reduction target for biofuels, whether such a target will include so-called indirect land use change and whether countries will have mandatory targets or not.
Another lobbyist speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not allowed to speak to the media said: “The Council’s position on crop-based biofuel is fairly entrenched due to the positions of the eastern member states. We (also) think they will propose a 50% GHG target, but the big question is whether that will include indirect land use change (ILUC).”
Including ILUC in GHG savings, could push the minimum savings required up to 65% according to sources - a move that could exclude some of the most common types of biofuels, such as those from palm, soy or rapeseed.
Renewable fuel lobby groups have urged the EU not to set overarching policy that discriminates against broad churches of biofuels based on sources, but rather recognises there are good biofuels and bad biofuels.