The truth about ‘multipliers’ and renewable energy
EURACTIV reports that the European Commission "admits fossil fuel share ‘likely’ higher in transport without multipliers."
"Without multipliers – a statistical methodology used to encourage the uptake of renewable energy in transport, primarily in electric cars – the share of fossil fuels in transport is “likely” to be higher than the official figures published by Eurostat, a European Commission source told EURACTIV.
"The issue of multipliers has taken centre stage in the debate over greener transport in light of the upcoming revision of the RED II legislation designed to help meet Europe’s climate goals. A number of energy stakeholders have opposed multipliers saying they don’t represent the reality on the ground.
"Multipliers are used to incentivise member states to use renewable energies to speed up transport’s decarbonisation and are applied primarily to electric cars: A multiplier of five means that for every two electric cars, ten will be counted in the final analysis.
"ePURE's Valérie Corre told EURACTIV in an interview that innovative biofuels need to be supported but not all of them.
"'[A multiplier] is hiding the fact that the transport sector still depends very much on oil and fossil fuels,' she said, adding that a specific target for those biofuels should be set with a penalty if the target is not achieved."
