News Energy
10 Member States find EU biofuel requirements too strict
The stricter requirements of the European Commission for Biofuels are under fire. According to 10 Member States, the planned changes in the regulations are too strict.
The idea behind the new regulations is that the money that the EU makes available will actually go to sustainable projects. 10 Member States are in defence: Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Sweden. These Member States want the rules for bioenergy to be for example, residual flows from agriculture and forestry remain the same as the current standard. One of the additional requirements is that at least 80% less greenhouse gas may be emitted compared to fossil fuels. That's now 70%.
Counterproductive
"All forms of solid, liquid or gaseous biofuels that fall under the current Renewable Energy Directive must continue to qualify as renewable energy under the new legislation in the long term," the 10 energy ministers wrote in a letter sent to the European Commission last week. sent. According to these countries, the introduction of stricter rules is counterproductive to European ambitions to invest more in sustainable energy. "The Commission's proposal should therefore be revised," said Anders Ygeman, the Swedish energy minister.
'Not far enough'
However, environmental groups such as the World Wildlife Fund believe that the Commission's proposals do not go far enough. They argue that some biofuels that emit a lot of greenhouse gases in the stricter regulations still fall under the heading of sustainable energy.
Jurphaas Lugtenburg
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