{"id":138312,"date":"2024-02-01T07:03:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T06:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=138312"},"modified":"2024-01-30T09:05:28","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T08:05:28","slug":"bp-pushes-to-extend-definition-of-advanced-biofuels-as-green-aviation-targets-loom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/bp-pushes-to-extend-definition-of-advanced-biofuels-as-green-aviation-targets-loom\/","title":{"rendered":"BP pushes to extend definition of \u2018advanced\u2019 biofuels as green aviation targets loom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

As part of its \u2018Green Deal\u2019, the EU hopes to slash transport sector emissions by 90% until 2050, a task proving difficult as unrestricted mobility within the bloc is considered a key societal achievement. A key pillar of the targets therefore is the use of alternative liquid fuels, such as biofuels or synthetic fuels made with hydrogen, known as e-fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n

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As part of its \u2018Green Deal\u2019, the EU hopes to reduce emissions of the transport sector by 90% until 2050, a task that proves difficult as citizens’ mobility is considered a key societal achievement. \u00a9<\/span> Ceri Breeze\/shutterstock<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

But as investments into the more novel e-fuel technology have so far not materialised at a sufficient scale<\/a>, and other raw materials for the production of biofuels are limited, BP hopes for a more flexible approach, which would see the criteria for what can be considered an \u2018advanced\u2019 biofuel extended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone knows feedstock, in particular waste, is limited,\u201d Niels Anspach, vice president for bio and low-carbon fuels at BP Europe, told an industry conference in Berlin on Monday (22 January).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the EU\u2019s current rules to reduce the climate damage from aviation, most alternative fuels are expected to come from waste materials such as used cooking oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But producing more waste just to produce more biofuels would be \u201cirrational\u201d, Anspach said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo we need to understand and come to smart solutions such as cover crops,\u201d he added, asserting that with this approach the EU could be \u201cgetting out of this food vs fuel debate\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Food vs fuel\u2019 no more?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Food crops, which are used for biofuel production in other sectors such as road transport, are not allowed under the rules for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at present, as the sector wants to avoid a debate on the competition for land between food and fuel production<\/a> \u2013 an issue that has seen the EU revise its rules for crop-based biofuels several times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike traditional food crops, cover crops are often planted \u2018off-season\u2019, between the main crop cycles, for the purpose of improving soil health. Supporters say this means they do not compete with food production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rules governing which feedstocks are considered \u201cadvanced\u201d biofuels, and hence eligible for use in aviation, are set in annex 9A of the EU\u2019s Renewable Energy Directive, which was revised just last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anspach said he would like to see cover crops such as Carinata included in the list, a crop which BP has already invested in, and stressed that \u201cwe should look across the whole range of cover crops\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to get more pragmatic about the annex 9A,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His remarks did not land well with producers of traditional biofuels, however, with Stephan Arens of UFOP, a German association of oil and protein plant producers, raising concerns that traditional biofuel crops such as rapeseed or wheat could be further restricted as a consequence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe discussion about a potential substitute product, or the new product \u2018cover crops\u2019, which would not have a fuel vs food debate, could lead to a further intensification of the discussion about cultivated biomass,\u201d Arens said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is perhaps why we take a particularly critical view of this.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Environmentalists sound the alarm<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Environmental organisation Transport & Environment (T&E) also raised the alarm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe EU should not be swayed by BP\u2019s calls to allow cover crop biofuels for SAF. They are not the \u2018win-win\u2019 the company claims they are,\u201d Barbara Smailagic, the organisation\u2019s biofuels expert, told Euractiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven though in Europe these feedstocks are mostly grown for environmental reasons, globally they are used to a large extent as cash crops in areas with multiple harvesting periods per year,\u201d she said, adding that \u201cthere is a risk that we incentivise importing these feedstocks to Europe for biofuels that would otherwise in global markets be sold as food or feed, for example.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis creates market distortion in a similar way as food and feed biofuels do,\u201d Smailagic concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As part of its \u2018Green Deal\u2019, the EU hopes to slash transport sector emissions by 90% until 2050, a task proving difficult as unrestricted mobility within the bloc is considered a key societal achievement. A key pillar of the targets therefore is the use of alternative liquid fuels, such as biofuels or synthetic fuels made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Oil giant BP Europe is pushing for a revision of the EU\u2019s rules for biofuels, fossil fuel alternatives made from crops, animal fats, and waste, to allow more crops into the EU\u2019s definition of \u2018advanced\u2019 biofuels that can be used for aviation","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[10794,5714,10416,7204,16496,13615,10630,16792],"supplier":[5585,6092],"class_list":["post-138312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-aviationfuel","tag-biofuels","tag-circulareconomy","tag-feedstock","tag-greendeal","tag-greenfuel","tag-hydrogen","tag-saf","supplier-european-union","supplier-transport-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138312"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=138312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}