The European
association for bioindustries -
EuropaBio - welcomes
the Commission’s launch today of the Biofuels Technology
Platform and is pleased to announce the setting up of a
Biofuels Task Force within EuropaBio to coordinate the
industry input. The new Biofuels Task Force mission is
“to advocate
coherently favorable policies, strategies, regulations and
their implementation for research, finance, and market
access of Biofuels as one of the pillars of the competitive
and sustainable European Knowledge Based Bio-Economy,
increasing the value of plants and renewable materials of
agricultural and forestry origin”.
The European Biofuels
Technology Platform launched today is intended to provide
and implement a common European vision and strategy for the
production of biofuels, in particular for transport
applications, and be compatible with present-day
infrastructures.
EuropaBio is
a member of BIOFRAC, the Biofuels Research Advisory Council,
which has developed the draft vision document for the
Biofuels Technology Platform
(1).
Biofuels
represent the convergence of several existing sectors.
Industrial biotechnology provides the conversion processes
for biomass, crop biotechnology will increasingly contribute
to the sustainable supply of sufficient biomass, and energy
companies will provide the route to market. In this respect,
we are particularly pleased that two major players in the
energy sector – Total and BP – have joined the EuropaBio (2)
Biofuels Task Force.
This
Biofuels Technology Platform represents yet another key step
in the integration of biotechnology into the infrastructure
of the European economy and moves us further towards meeting
the Lisbon goals. Johan Vanhemelrijck, EuropaBio’s Secretary
General said “I am delighted that the EuropaBio team and
members now have this opportunity to contribute to an
important new initiative. We have worked hard to establish
excellent working relations with the Commission, and our
close involvement with the new Technology Platform on
Biofuels is one of the fruits of this. Biotechnology will
help to meet Europe’s carbon dioxide emission reduction
targets, reduce our dependence on oil imports and provide
another useful income stream for our farmers. The technology
is right on time to help us fulfil the Kyoto targets.”
In welcoming
the formation of the new EuropaBio Task Force on Biofuels,
Jack Huttner, Chair of EuropaBio’s Industrial Biotechnology
Council, said “Biotechnology has the potential to enable the
sustainable production of the fuels and chemicals advanced
economies need to prosper. But, policy sector support is
essential for this progress to occur. We are competing with
the petrochemical industry that has a 100 year head start on
us. We need policy initiatives to level the playing field.”
(1) Biofuels in the
European Union – A vision for 2030 and beyond
The
BIOFRAC vision document
http://ec.europa.eu/research/energy/pdf/draft_vision_report_en.pdf
EuropaBio
is the European Association for Bioindustries, has 70
corporate and associate members operating worldwide and 24
national biotechnology associations representing some 1500
small and medium sized enterprises involved in research and
development, testing, manufacturing and distribution of
biotechnology products.
Useful
links:
- About
sustainable biofuels – a EuropaBio fact sheet
http://www.europabio.org/documents/biofuel.pdf
-
About the
bio-based economy –
www.bio-economy.net
