EU drops ‘accounting trick’ to boost green fuel in road transport
EURACTIV reports: "The biofuels industry has welcomed the European Commission’s proposal to end the statistical inflation of waste-based biofuels in the EU’s road transport energy mix, a practice they say camouflaged the use of fossil fuels.
"The revised 2.2% target for advanced biofuels, such as used cooking oil, is lower than the 3.5% proposed in the 2018 renewable energy directive.
"But the scrapping of so-called ‘multipliers’ – which allowed waste-based biofuels to be double-counted towards targets – means the percentage of second-generation biofuels powering EU transport will increase in real terms.
"The EU uses multipliers to make it advantageous to opt for more expensive but cleaner means of energy production. But critics argue it obscures the reality of its energy mix.
“'The Commission’s proposal to end the use of multipliers is good news for the fight against climate change because it ends what was essentially an accounting trick to hide the EU’s continued dependence on fossil fuels for transport,' said Emmanuel Desplechin, secretary-general of the renewable ethanol company ePURE.
“'Using real targets instead of virtual targets means that every litre of renewable fuel used will be displacing a litre of fossil fuel,' he added."
