Brussels, Belgium
April 17, 2008
The European biotech industry
strongly supports EU initiatives to promote the use of biofuels
to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Industry shares the
concern of European leaders that the high use of energy stemming
from fossil resources is irresponsible in the long term. It is
the opinion of EuropaBio
that the only feasible alternatives today to fossil-based energy
for the transport sector are liquid biofuels. Biofuels will not
replace fossil fuels, but are part of the solution to external
dependency for energy and to green house gas emissions.
In response to the European Environment Agency (EEA) statement
recommending that biofuels targets be dropped from the Renewable
Energy Directive, the biotech industry notes that the EEA's
scientific committee's opinion is not based on any new
scientific evidence.
"We share the concern that clearing tropical and subtropical
forests for gaining agricultural land may be contradictory to
sustainability issues. The monitoring problems pointed out by
the EEA should stimulate the development of a credible and
robust certification system" said Johan Vanhemelrijck, Secretary
General of EuropaBio.
Urgent solutions are necessary to address GHG emissions from the
road transport sector. Calculations of green house gas (GHG)
emission savings made by the Commission show that various forms
of biofuels offer an advantage in GHG emission reduction
compared to fossil fuels, and most of them already meet the
requirements provided under the European Commission's proposal
for sustainability criteria.(1) Sustainability criteria
developed by the European Commission and the European Biotech
Industry (2) are also intended for biofuels in developing
countries, and aim to minimise any unsustainable production of
biofuels that destroy protected biodiversity. "If Europe drops
the 10% target, biofuel production will continue in other
regions where it makes economic sense compared to fossil fuel
but with the risk that focus on sustainability considerations
will be reduced. The EU needs to be the driver of sustainability
criteria rather than letting the rest of the world just get on
with it." said Kirsten Birkegaard Staer, Chair of EuropaBio's
Biofuels Task Force.
Although the objective is the development and introduction of
advanced generation more sustainable biofuels, the biofuel
sector needs to be developed now to provide a bridge to second
generation technologies. Abandoning the biofuels target would
bring the development of such technologies to a halt in Europe,
and would exclude Europe in any future involvement both in the
development of such technologies and in terms of reaping the
environmental and wider societal benefits.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Renewable Energy Directive, Annex VII (p. 50)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0019:FIN:EN:PD
EuropaBio environmental sustainability criteria for biofuels.
http://www.europabio.org/documents/biofuels/Pospaper180108.pdf
EuropaBio's answer to the European Environment Agency proposal
to drop the 10% target for biofuels in the Renewable Energy
Directive:
http://www.europabio.org/Biofuels/documents/Press%20Response_EEA_final170408.pdf
Get the facts on Biofuels:
http://www.europabio.org/Biofuels/Biofuels_about.htm
EuropaBio's biofuels brochure and factsheets cover the following
topics:
1) EuropaBio Biofuels brochure: Biotechnology: Making biofuels
sustainable
2) EuropaBio Factsheet: Biofuels and land use
3) EuropaBio Factsheet: Biofuels and developing countries
4) EuropaBio Factsheet: Biofuels and food
5) EuropaBio Factsheet: Biofuels: Environmental sustainability
criteria
EuropaBio's mission is to promote an innovative and dynamic
biotechnology-based industry in Europe. EuropaBio, (the European
Association for Bioindustries), has 81 corporate and 5 associate
members operating worldwide, 6 Bioregions and 25 national
biotechnology associations representing some 1800 small and
medium sized enterprises. |
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