Outlook for biofuels in 2026: In the EU, we’ve got work to do

ePURE's David Carpintero writes in Biofuels International magazine:

After a disappointing revision of the EU’s CO₂ standards for cars and vans and a trade policy that puts European farmers and biorefineries at risk, this new year promises to be a challenging one for the European renewable ethanol sector.

But there’s a way to make things right. First of all, we need to talk more about the importance of diversifying uses of biomass. It’s clear from the exclusion of crop-based biofuels from the CO2 for cars revision that the old, repeatedly disproven ‘food vs fuel’ argument persists in some corners of the European Commission.

We will be working tirelessly in 2026 to help policymakers understand the reality, as confirmed in a recent study conducted by the respected Nova Institute: that using agricultural biomass for bioenergy and bio-based materials increases food security, enhances resilient and competitive agriculture, supports climate change mitigation and boosts biodiversity protection. This evidence not only dispels the food vs fuel dogma but also should replace it as the foundation for sound policymaking.

These findings are also true for biomass around the world, but the long-running ‘food vs fuel’ debate continues to foster discrimination against the use of sustainable crop-based biofuels to reduce emissions from transport. In Europe, this has left transport needlessly reliant on fossil fuels, with many EU countries still falling short of renewable energy targets.

This mindset also ignores a fundamental reality: bioethanol production generates food and feed as primary outputs, with fuel as a co-product. In some quarters of the European Commission and European Parliament, the false claim that biofuel production is harmful to food security continues to adversely affect EU policy – which unfairly hamstrings Member States from using sustainable crop-based biofuels to replace fossil fuels.

Without the right policy support and without ending the ongoing discrimination against sustainable crop-based biofuels in EU legislation — in aviation and maritime decarbonisation as well as in road transport – we will continue to neglect a strategic tool for both energy and food policy.

EU trade deals like the one with Mercosur pose yet another threat to EU ethanol production and therefore to EU agriculture, as ethanol imports surge, domestic production disappears and EU farmers lose a key domestic outlet.

Today, as farmers fight again to protect their livelihood, we urge decision-makers to view the diversification of biomass uses for what it truly is: a strategic opportunity to tackle multiple challenges such as food and energy security, defossilization and the preservation of farmers’ livelihoods and vital work. Supporting Europe’s agriculture means ensuring fairness, competitiveness and long-term sustainability. The people who feed Europe must not be asked to bear the cost of the lack of diversification of biomass.

This isn’t just a European issue. Ethanol players around the world should help reinforce the message that biorefineries are a strategic asset both locally (supporting farmers and rural economies, food security and energy independence) and globally (helping reduce emissions in the fight against climate change).

In Europe the ethanol industry publishes annual statistics showing the varied outputs of biorefineries and the diverse agricultural inputs, as well as the arable land, required for this production. We invite ethanol associations around the world to consider coordinating to create similar statistics at a global level.

Maybe by talking more about the efficient uses of biomass can help finally put an end to ‘food vs fuel’ nonsense.