Several countries declare strong support for biofuels

The Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia have issued a strong call for increased support for European biofuels produced from domestically grown agricultural raw materials, and urged other EU countries to push for an increased share of biofuels in transport – for example by adopting higher blends of ethanol in petrol – to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“One of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in transport is to use renewable energy sources, the so-called biofuels,” the countries state in joint declaration from the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia presented at today’s Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting. “Their production is directly linked to primary agricultural production and thus ensures its stable and predictable uptake. Biofuel production from local agricultural feedstock contributes to the preservation of jobs and agricultural activities in the EU and at the same time supports energy security.”

The declaration further states: “We are convinced that EU has sufficient possibilities to produce adequate volumes of food and feed needed as well as demand for the production of conventional biofuels. We believe that crop-based biofuels are currently one of the most feasible and widely available source of renewable energy used in transport sector.”

Significantly, the countries have committed to creating a favourable environment for the use of biofuel blends such as E10, which contains up to 10% ethanol and plays an important role in reducing emissions from today’s vehicle fleet. Now it’s up to other EU countries to follow suit by supporting the joint declaration by rapidly rolling out fuels with higher blends of renewable energy of agricultural origin such as E10.