EuropaBio backs proposals for sustainability criteria

At the World Biofuels Markets Congress in Brussels earlier this month, Kirsten Birkegaard Staer, chair of EuropaBio’s Biofuels Task Force, said: “To move towards a future with the needed greenhouse gas savings and energy security, every solution is important. Biofuels contribute in realising these solutions, but it is important that the emerging biofuels sector be built on sound sustainability principles.”

Pillars
Birkegaard Staer went on to outline EuropaBio’s ‘pillars of sustainability’, including:

• The development of an EU or global certification scheme to guarantee that biofuels are produced in an environmentally sustainable way.
• The development of sustainability criteria for the biomass used for biofuel production as well as for all (energy) applications
• The insistence that the use of biomass for fuel purposes should not jeopardise food supply, nor endanger forests, damage soils or pollute waters.

Little disagreement
The EuropaBio statement comes after several months of feverish, gloom-mongering claims and speculation about the whole-life sustainability of biofuels.

There now appears to be little disagreement within the biofuels sector as a whole about the need for some sort of sustainability criteria for biofuels production. The only debate seems to be about the specifics of any such criteria and whether they should be mandatory.

The EU Commission has already made its intentions clear, including its own stringent sustainability criteria in the proposed new renewable energy Directive published in January 2008. However, the Commission doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to innovative new biofuels regulation.

Agreeing on the destination is one thing, but trying to agree on the best road to reach that destination is when the fun really starts.

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