Brussels, Belgium
August 17, 2007
EuropaBio - the EU
association for bioindustries - has released
a consensus response to the "integrated energy and climate
change package" proposal, endorsed by EU Heads of State earlier
this year and currently discussed in European Parliament. The
association sets out a policy for first and second generation
biofuels. The available biomass in Europe will need to increase
in order to achieve ambitious goals of biofuel use set by the
European Union (5.75% in 2010 and 10% in 2020) in a sustainable
and competitive way. Cultivating energy crops on set-aside and
non-cultivated land will contribute, but this will not be
sufficient to fulfill all the demand.
The industry says that the output per hectare needs to be
increased as well as crop quality that offers more fermentable
carbohydrates or higher oil content crops. This can be done via
plant science (modern plant breeding techniques and
biotechnology) in combination with state-of-the-art application
of crop protection.
Another important step to increase the biofuel production is the
development of second generation biofuels; this involves the
competitive production of biofuels from (hemi)cellulose and
organic agricultural waste. Especially industrial biotechnology
- mainly (hemi)cellulose degrading enzymes with improved
efficiency - will be crucial to obtain this.
"Biotechnology is today one of the most effective and innovative
tools we have to attain European targets for biofuel use in a
sustainable way . We are all excited about getting to the second
generation biofuels, but I would like to underline that in order
to facilitate the transition towards second generation biofuels,
a market for first generation biofuels is needed, with an
appropriate infrastructure and distribution" says Steen
Riisgaard, President of Novozymes and Chairman of EuropaBio..
The EuropaBio's recommendations call for EU initiatives to boost
the use of biofuels and advocate a step-by-step approach from
the current first generation to more advanced biofuels.
Specifically, the industry:
- calls upon the Member
States to implement, as soon as possible, the principle of
binding targets for blending biofuels with petrol and
diesel;
- supports a change in fuel standards to permit a higher
biofuel content in blends of petrol and diesel; and
- advocates performance based regulation that encourages
efficient delivery of biofuels which are most effective in
reducing green house gas emissions.
In order to harvest the full
potential of biofuels, EuropaBio encourages European legislators
to follow a similar approach to the USA and China and initiate
policy measures which will allow second generation biofuels to
become a viable, commercial business within the next 4-6 years.
This should include support to further research in second
generation technologies as well as support for demonstration
projects.
Develop the integrated diversified biorefinery - an integrated
cluster of industries, using a variety of different technologies
to produce chemicals, materials, biofuels and power from biomass
raw materials - will be a key element in the future.
Finally, EuropaBio encourages European legislators to establish
a certification system for sustainable production and use of
biofuels in order to ensure that biomass production always
complies with good agricultural and labour practices and ensures
a good and responsible balance between food and non-food crop
production, complying with existing international standards and
agreements. Robust, realistic and coherent sustainability
schemes - to be respected all over Europe, and preferentially
worldwide - could help to achieve this.
EuropaBio does not support any unsustainable use of plant
material for biofuel production and advocates that the use of
biomass for fuel purposes should not jeopardise European and
third countries' ability to secure its people's food supply, nor
should it prevent achieving environmental priorities such as
protecting forests, preventing soil degradation and keeping a
good ecological status of waters.
EuropaBio Position :
http://www.europabio.org/positions/Biofuels_EuropaBio%20position_Final.pdf
EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries, has 85
direct members operating Worldwide, 12 associate members and 6
bioregions as well as 25 national biotechnology associations
representing some 1800 small and medium sized enterprises
involved in research and development, testing, manufacturing and
distribution of biotechnology products. More information can be
found on
http://www.europabio.org |
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