IEEP newsletter - spring 2010
Delivering biofuel sustainability requirements
The environmental impacts of biofuels and bioliquids remain hotly disputed. The Renewable Energy Directive (RED) sets out criteria intended to limit the direct environmental impacts associated with the production and processing of feedstocks into liquid fuels, specifically to deliver a minimum level of greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions and to protect land valued for biodiversity or as a carbon stock.
Debate continues to rage regarding the lack of criteria focused on potential indirect land use change (ILUC) caused by expanded crop production to meet increased biofuel demand, and there are fears that ILUC could undermine efforts to deliver GHG savings from biofuel consumption. Meanwhile, however, the existing sustainability RED criteria must to be transposed and implemented by this December. Effective implementation poses a significant challenge as wording of the criteria is often ambiguous. Moreover, there is no formal EU wide guidance under development to inform their interpretation or when they are deemed met. This uncertainty means that the already imperfect RED criteria are in danger of being weakened through inappropriate or incomplete enforcement.
IEEP has devoted considerable effort to supporting implementation of the RED and will soon publish a series of papers interpreting the bioenergy impacts of the Directive’s targets. Since October 2009, with the kind support of WWF EPO and Defra, IEEP has been working to help interpret specific requirements for the protection of highly biodiverse grasslands. Despite EU imports of biofuels having potentially significant impacts on grasslands globally, little focus has yet been afforded to this subject. Moreover, under the RED this is the only aspect of the biofuel sustainability criteria on which the Commission is required to adopt further interpretative information.
IEEP’s Working Papers interpreting the grassland requirements of the RED and proposing a mechanism for their implementation were published in February 2010. We are currently conducting a phase of testing of the proposed implementation model.
Contact: Catherine Bowyer