The frequently caustic battle over European biofuels policy has kicked off again this week as the European Union is set to reverse gear and end years of support for the controversial energy source.

Environmental groups, development non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the biofuels sector were surprised in September when a leak of a long-delayed European Commission legislative proposal suggested that Brussels now wants to halve targets and shift support to more advanced fuels that it says do not displace food farming.

“Biofuels that do not lead to substantial greenhouse gas savings (when emissions from indirect land-use change are included) and are produced from crops used for food and feed should not be subsidised [after 2020],” reads a mid-October draft of the proposal seen by Nature.

In 2003, Europe embraced its first biofuels subsidies, and three years ago the EU adopted targets aiming for 10% of all transport fuels to come from renewable sources by 2020, in effect a target for crop-based biofuels. The target may now be reduced to 7–8%.

The two departments in the commission responsible for drafting the policy adjustment now want to cap the amount coming from food crops at 5% and shift the emphasis from land-derived feedstocks entirely to ‘second-generation’ biofuels coming from municipal waste, algae and agricultural residues (such as stalks, nut shells, husks and cobs).

With biofuels already accounting for 4.5% of transport fuels in Europe, the move would allow very little room for growth, although sources familiar with internal commission discussions report that the departments ultimately shied away from any strict ‘carbon accounting’ for fuels, and went for a simpler cap instead.

They did not believe this to be politically feasible, as it could in principle reduce the use of biofuels much further unless they could be shown to produce emissions savings over fossil fuels. Continue reading →