Tag Archives: European Union

EU bioethanol group weighs U.S. subsidy lawsuit

March 15, 2011   Karl   No comments
Eu Flag

EU bioethanol group weighs U.S. subsidy lawsuit

European bioethanol producers will decide by the end of March whether to file a legal complaint with the European Commission over U.S. subsidies, the EU’s main bioethanol lobby said.

Producers such as Germany’s CropEnergies and Spain’s Abengoa are gathering data on tax credits granted by the U.S. government to U.S. firms that blend ethanol with gasoline. They say the tax break squeezes the margins of competing European producers when the resulting blend is exported to the EU.

“By the end of the month we should know where we stand and whether we have a case that’s strong enough to take to the Commission,” Rob Vierhout, secretary-general of ePURE, an industry group representing firms that make up 80 percent of European bioethanol production, told Reuters.

“European producers are struggling with these imports that put pressure on prices.”

The group’s efforts reflect the global race to secure a slice of Europe’s lucrative renewable energy market, where demand is boosted by official targets designed to fight climate change and wean the bloc off higher-polluting fossil fuels. Europe used about 5 billion litres of bioethanol in 2010, with about 12 percent imported from the United States and Brazil, according to industry estimates.

If a complaint by producers is filed and proves successful, it could lead to higher import tariffs against U.S. bioethanol.

In a similar case in 2008, the bloc raised tariffs against U.S. biodiesel after it found Washington had given illegal payments to blenders and determined that exporters were dumping biodiesel on the EU market.

U.S. producers defend the so-called Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit, which provides a 45-cent-a-gallon tax credit to ethanol blenders, as essential to propping up a fledgling industry. Last year, Congress decided to extend the tax credit until the end of 2011.

“While the complaints of the European ethanol industry are understandable, their angst is misguided at U.S. ethanol tax policy,” said Matt Hartwig, spokesman for the U.S.-based Renewable Fuels Association.

“It remains unclear if any additional volumes of ethanol are flowing into Europe under this particular tariff schedule. EU nations have yet to provide any data and we have not seen any to date that suggests this is happening at above normal levels.”

COMPLICATIONS AT CUSTOMS

Producers are separately lobbying the European Commission to streamline the bloc’s customs codes, a move that could classify bioethanol blends as high-taxed agricultural imports, Vierhout said. Currently EU states can import the fuel labelled as a chemical, qualifying for lower import duties.

That initiative has created a standoff within the executive, Vierhout said, pitting the Commission’s tax and agriculture departments — which are sympathetic to proposing such a change — against its trade negotiators, who are opposed.

Trade officials fear changing customs codes could prompt Brazil and the United States to demand compensation under world trade rules, he said.

Unlike a subsidy complaint — which would, if launched, target only the United States — classifying bioethanol blends as an agricultural could increase the tariffs on imports from all countries by about 40 percent, Vierhout said.

EU trade officials were not immediately available to comment on the issue.

Thanks and Source Reuters

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Call to end EU biofuel perks

March 15, 2011   Karl   No comments
wetlands

Call to end EU biofuel perks

Global environmental organisation Wetlands International has called for an end to incentives for biofuels in the European Union (EU). It said such incentives had resulted in direct and indirect land use change, like in Malaysia where huge areas of peat swamp forests had been cleared for oil palm cultivation.

In its latest published global news, Wetlands International claimed that the expansion of oil palm plantations in Sarawak might lead to the complete loss of the vast and unique peat swamp forests by the end of this decade. “In just five years (2005-2010), almost 10% of Sarawak’s forests and 33% of the peat swamp forests have been cleared. Of this, 65% was for conversion to palm oil production,” it added.

The report said separate studies by Wetlands International and Sarvision showed that a rapidly increasing proportion of Malaysian palm oil was produced on peatland, leading to deforestation and degradation of organic soils. “The new studies concluded that 20% of all Malaysian palm oil is produced on drained peatland. For Sarawak, this is 44%. For recently established plantations, the percentage on forested peat swamp is even higher,” added the report.

Wetlands International wants a complete ban of palm oil production on peatland and calls for a halt of further conversion of natural areas for this crop. Responding to the report, Sarawak Oil Palm Plantation Owners’ Association (Soppoa) refuted Wetlands International’s deforestation claims, saying that the Sarawak government had only allocated 750,000ha out of the 1.69 million ha of peatland for oil farm cultivation.

Some 330,700ha of oil palm estates in Sarawak now are on peatland. It said the state government’s policy was to maintain around 50% of its land area under forest cover. Soppoa said area under oil palm estates had not been deforested but only undergone changes in species, from tree to palm trees, and that oil palm plantation could be classified as forest plantation under the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change. “’Our planters have managed to get an average yield of between 25 and 30 tonnes per ha of fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) from well managed mature oil palm plantation on peatland. “This yield is about 20% more than the average yield of the mineral soil plantation areas in Sarawak,” said Soppoa in a statement.

Thanks and source: The Star Online

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EU’s transport sector will comprise of 80% biofuels by 2050

February 10, 2011   Karl   No comments
Eu Flag

EU's transport sector will comprise 80% biofuels 2050

80% of the EU’s transport fuel needs could be met with biofuels by the year 2050, according to an independent study published by the Öko-Institut.

Commissioned on behalf of The Greens/European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament, the study titled The Vision Scenario for the European Union concludes that the use of biofuels in the EU transport sector will increase to 10% in 2020, 25% in 2030 and 80% in 2050.
These findings come only recently after the European Commission announced that biofuels have the potential to replace Europe’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels and make transport sustainable by 2050.
In Europe transport emissions have increased by almost 30% since 1990 and now represent over one fifth of the total GHG emissions in the EU.
‘This fact strongly underlines why it is vital that Europe turns to biofuels now. A strong European biofuels sector will be better placed to invest in the advanced biofuels that will be crucial for decarbonising transport by 2050,’ says Rob Vierhout, secretary general at ePURE.
‘Europe policy makers must recognise the important findings in this report, particularly as this unequivocal demand for substantial biofuel growth is coming from the Greens. It is clear that the European public want more biofuels and, as this study shows, biofuels are the only here-and-now solution to fuelling the European transport sector sustainably,’ he adds.

80% of the EU’s transport fuel needs could be met with biofuels by the year 2050, according to an independent study published by the Öko-Institut.
Commissioned on behalf of The Greens/European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament, the study titled The Vision Scenario for the European Union concludes that the use of biofuels in the EU transport sector will increase to 10% in 2020, 25% in 2030 and 80% in 2050.
These findings come only recently after the European Commission announced that biofuels have the potential to replace Europe’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels and make transport sustainable by 2050.
In Europe transport emissions have increased by almost 30% since 1990 and now represent over one fifth of the total GHG emissions in the EU.
‘This fact strongly underlines why it is vital that Europe turns to biofuels now. A strong European biofuels sector will be better placed to invest in the advanced biofuels that will be crucial for decarbonising transport by 2050,’ says Rob Vierhout, secretary general at ePURE.
‘Europe policy makers must recognise the important findings in this report, particularly as this unequivocal demand for substantial biofuel growth is coming from the Greens. It is clear that the European public want more biofuels and, as this study shows, biofuels are the only here-and-now solution to fuelling the European transport sector sustainably,’ he adds.

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Ethanol venture gets EU approval

January 04, 2011   Karl   No comments
Shell logo

Ethanol venture gets EU approval

European regulators approved on Tuesday a joint venture between oil giant Shell and Brazil’s top ethanol producer, Cosan.

The European Commission said it had cleared under merger regulations a joint venture between Shell Brazil Holding B.V., belonging to Britain’s Shell Group, and Cosan S.A. Industria e Comercio of Brazil, for the production, distribution and sale of sugar, ethanol and related products.

“After examining the operation, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it,” the Commission said in a statement.

In February last year, Shell said it had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the intention of forming a 12.0-billion-dollar joint venture with biofuel industry leader Cosan.

The joint venture, worth the equivalent of 8.6 billion euros, would be for the production of ethanol, sugar and power, and the supply, distribution and retail of transportation fuels in Brazil, Shell said in a statement at the time.

“Both companies would contribute certain existing Brazilian assets to the joint venture. In addition, Shell would contribute a total of 1.625 billion dollars in cash, payable over two years.”

Brazil is the second-biggest producer of ethanol after the United States. The product is used as a cheaper alternative to petrol used to power cars. – Sapa-AFP

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Malaysia and Indonesia warn that EU is hampering palm oil trade

November 17, 2010   Karl
Palm Oil

Palm Oil

Indonesia and Malaysia warned on Tuesday that new European rules to ensure the sustainability of biofuels might hamper their exports of palm oil and breach rules on free trade. But they stopped short of threatening action at the World Trade Organization and said they would monitor the situation.

The European Union’s energy chief, Guenther Oettinger, set green standards for biofuels in June to discourage companies from felling forests to grow profitable biodiesel or bioethanol crops.

“This directive discriminates (against) palm oil producers compared with other competing oil crops used as feedstock for biofuel production,” Malaysian commodities minister Bernard Dompok and Indonesian deputy agriculture minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said in a joint statement.

“This directive has set criteria … which could form a non-tariff barrier for the imports of palm oil into the European Union,” they added during a visit to lobby EU officials.

The EU wants to obtain 10 percent of its road fuels from renewable sources by 2020, about 90 percent of which is seen coming from crops such as grains, palms or sugar cane.

Within the next decade that could create a market worth $17 billion, and critics say that creates an incentive for farmers to hack into forests.

The new sustainability standards state that biofuels used to meet EU targets must save at least 35 percent of greenhouse gases compared with oil and cannot come from recently cleared land.

EU experts are also examining a new scientific perspective known as “indirect land use change”, which suggests that even biofuels grown on established agricultural land can have widespread negative impact by forcing food production into new areas.

Krisnamurthi told reporters on Monday that although about 3-4 percent of plantations had been developed unsustainably, the greenhouse gas savings from Indonesian palm oil were generally much higher than envisaged in the EU rules. He urged a review.

“The first casualties will be the smallholding farmers,” he added. “The big companies will have the energy and capability to meet the requirements.” (Reporting by Pete Harrison, editing by Jane Baird)

Source Reuters

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Forced use of biofuels could hit food production, EU warned

November 09, 2010   Karl

Forced use of biofuels could hit food production, EU warned

Plans to make European motorists use more biofuels could take an area the size of Ireland out of food production by 2020 and accelerate climate change, a study has found.

The report by the independent Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) is based on plans that countries have submitted to the EU detailing how they intend to meet their legal requirement to include 10% of renewable energy in all transport fuels by 2020.

IEEP calculations suggest that the indirect effect of the switch will be to take between 4.1m and 6.9m hectares out of food production. In addition, say the authors, opening up land to compensate for the food taken out of production will lead to between 27m and 56m tonnes of additional CO² emissions, the equivalent of putting nearly 26m more cars on the road.

The study says European countries have chosen to meet the EU renewable energy targets by importing so-called first generation biofuels from African countries or from Indonesia and Brazil, rather than by promoting the use of advanced biofuels, electric vehicles or energy efficiency to reduce the environmental impact of transport.

“The renewable energy directive was adopted to help combat climate change, however, through promoting the use of conventional biofuels with no consideration of indirect land use change impacts it has the potential to actually increase the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“It is vital that this situation is rectified and these impacts are urgently addressed within EU law,” said David Baldock, director of IEEP.

Development groups which commissioned the report said the effect of the EU legislation would be felt around the world and urged the EU to drop the 10% biofuels goal.

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EU Biofuels Goals May Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Lobby Groups Say

November 08, 2010   Karl
EU Flag

EU Biofuels Goals May Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Lobby Groups Say

Biofuels targets in the European Union could raise emissions of greenhouse gases because forests and wetlands will be destroyed to grow the crops necessary, nine environmental groups said in a study.

Energy targets for 23 of the EU’s 27 members suggest 9.5 percent of the bloc’s transportation energy will come from biofuels by 2020, said the groups, which include Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and ActionAid. The crops may need an area twice the size of Belgium, and clearing the necessary land could make the fuels 167 percent more polluting for the climate than sticking with gasoline and diesel, they said.

“Biofuels are not a climate-friendly solution to our energy needs,” Laura Sullivan, ActionAid’s European policy and campaigns manager, said in the statement. “The EU plans effectively give companies a blank cheque to continue grabbing land from the world’s poor by growing biofuels.”

The EU aims to get 10 percent of its energy for transportation from biofuels, hydrogen and renewable power by 2020. The target is meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020.

EU energy spokeswoman Marlene Holzner said the targets require less land than the study suggests and that EU guidelines prevent the use of deforested land.

“The Renewable Directive says very clearly that it is not allowed to chop down forests to produce biofuels,” Holzner said in an e-mail. “The same goes for drained peatland, wetland or highly biodiverse areas.”

The study by the campaign groups estimated 69,000 square kilometers, or 6.9 million hectares, would be needed.

“The production of biofuels can indirectly cause additional deforestation and land conversion, including of fragile ecosystems,” the groups said. “When existing agricultural land is turned over to biofuel production, agriculture has to expand elsewhere.”

The 10 percent target would require 2 million to 5 million hectares of land, and there is enough unused terrain in the EU that was previously used for crop production to cover its needs, Holzner said.

She also said that biofuels had “little to do” with a spike in food prices from 2007 to 2009, rejecting the accusation from the groups that land-use changes resulting from biofuel cultivation had “devastating impacts on food security.”

The European Union on June 10 set up controls to ensure biofuels, which are made primarily from crops such as rapeseed, wheat, corn and sugar, don’t come from forests, wetlands and nature reserves.

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EU biofuels policy could create “major environmental pressure”

November 08, 2010   Karl
EU Flag

EU biofuels policy could create “major environmental pressure”

EU biofuels policy does not adequately protect the environment against negative consequences, according to a study reviewing the indirect land use change (ILUC) impact of the EU’s planned increase in biofuels use up to 2020.

Based on newly released national plans, ILUC could lead to substantial land conversion and, as a consequence, additional greenhouse gas emissions beyond those that would arise from the continued fossil fuel use, the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) report says.

David Baldock, Executive Director IEEP, says: “Promoting the use of biofuels with no consideration of indirect land use change (ILUC) has the potential actually to increase the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions. It is vital that this situation is rectified and ILUC impacts are urgently addressed within EU law. It is essential to remember that the renewable energy Directive, which is driving EU biofuel use, was adopted to help combat climate change.”

Under EU law all Member States are required to derive 10% of their transport fuels from renewable sources by 2020.

Plans from national governments setting out how they will reach this target are now becoming available, and they confirm that conventional biofuels (derived from crops such as wheat, rapeseed and sugar cane) will be the primary technology used in delivery.

Land needed for biofuels crops

The report, Anticipated Indirect Land Use Change Associated with Expanded Use of Biofuels and Bioliquids in the EU – An Analysis of the National Renewable Energy Action Plans, concludes that between 4.1 and 6.9 million hectares of additional land will need to be cropped due to the increasing conventional biofuels demand, set out in national plans.

IEEP estimates that this would lead to additional annual emissions of between 27 and 56 million tonnes of CO2 between 2011 and 2020, associated with land conversion.

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Germany to raise it’s bioethanol blending in gasoline

October 26, 2010   Karl

Germany to raise bioethanol blending in gasoline

The German cabinet will vote on Wednesday on a proposal to raise the maximum level of bioethanol allowed in blended gasoline to 10 percent in January 2011 from 5 percent now, the country’s environment ministry said on Monday.

The move is part of Germany’s efforts to meet European Union plans to raise biofuel use to protect the environment, it said.

Analysts said the increase would help boost demand for grain next year, but there also would be tough competition from sugar and imported bioethanol.

“Currently sugar is looking most competitive for bioethanol output after the sharp rise in grain prices this year,” one analyst said. “But overall there is likely to be increased demand for both grains and sugar, so more blending will be positive news for producers.”

Introduction of fuels with higher bioethanol content has in the past been controversial because of fears of engine damage to older cars.

The ministry said about 90 percent of German automobiles would be capable of using fuels with the higher blend level, which will be clearly labeled at petrol stations.

Germany’s large bioethanol industry, which mostly uses grain and sugar as feedstock, has been hoping for the change for some time.

Grains futures surged to two-year highs in early August, almost doubling from June lows as a drought devastated Russia‘s harvest and the country announced a grain export ban.

Germany consumed about 1.2 million tonnes of grain for bioethanol output in 2009, the German state alcohol production supervision agency BMB said. This compared with a German 2009 grain crop of 43.7 million tonnes.

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