28 October 2021: Sustainable biodiesel is an essential solution to help the EU achieve its Green Deal objectives and the Fit-for-55 decarbonisation targets. While some transport sectors can easily be electrified, others are harder to decarbonise, such as heavy-duty, aviation, or maritime transport. Biodiesel can, and should, be used to pave their way to decarbonisation.

The EBB organised its annual policy event yesterday, presenting its new roadmap to 2030 and 2050. After a keynote speech given by Ms. Henna Virkkunen, Member of the European Parliament, a roundtable with speakers from the European Commission, the biodiesel industry, as well as transport and fuel stakeholders discussed how to use sustainable renewable biofuels to decrease emissions. According to the European Commission’s own projections, the demand for renewable fuels is expected to strongly increase in the coming decades, with a peak at 163 Mtoe in 2043 (i.e. eight times more than today). This demand will mainly come from hard-to-decarbonise sectors like heavy-duty road transport, aviation, or maritime transport. A gap is predicted between these sectors’ needs, and what can be produced under the RED II caps. Ms. Virkkunen, Member of the European Parliament (Finland, EPP) underlined that “EU climate policies should provide regulatory certainty and a long-term investment perspective to European industry, beyond 2030. Moreover, these decarbonization policies should ensure technology neutrality, make use of all available solutions. One clear example of inconsistency in the Fit-for-55 package is the increasing demand for biofuel in one hand, while on the other hand the sustainability criteria for biofuels is becoming more restrictive. This does not help the EU to deliver on its high ambition, since there is no coherence between the different elements of the package.” The existing EU legislation hinders the biodiesel contribution to decarbonisation. The EU proposals currently under discussion need to address this issue to reach the EU’s Fit-for-55 goals. During the policy roundtable, three EBB members – Ms. Myriam Gourmand-Arnaud (Total Energies), Mr. Christophe Beaunoir (SAIPOL, Groupe Avril), and Mr. Alexis Cazin (Cargill) – underlined that mobilising sustainable feedstock will be crucial to enable a larger role for sustainable biodiesel in all relevant transport modes. To this end, a single set of sustainability criteria should be applicable to all biodiesel produced in the EU, regardless of the transport mode in which it is used. They also underlined that the political signals are key, not only to today’s products, but also to all the investments in future innovative products that can further reduce CO2 emissions. Mr. Xavier Noyon, EBB Secretary General, concluded: “The Commission’s scenarios examined in the EBB roadmap show that we are facing a huge increase in the demand for biodiesel. Biodiesel must have a role to play in the transition towards climate neutral transports. While revising its policy and legal framework, the EU should really look into all available options, consider their limits as well as their potential, and put in place the right framework to meet the EU’s decarbonisation targets.” Download the full article