Open letter: E20 ethanol blends are needed to enable EU transport decarbonisation

ePURE is among the signatories of an open letter calling on the European Commission to revise the Fuel Quality Directive to increase the current ethanol volume cap from 10% to 20% and raise the oxygen mass limit from 3.7% to 8.0%. The letter, signed by a range of sectors including biofuels, agriculture, automotive industry and fuel suppliers, follows a suggestion from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that higher biofuel blends can play an important role in decarbonising the existing vehicle fleet.

The letter highlights the potential of E20, a petrol blend with up to 20% renewable ethanol, to further increase the use of renewable fuels in both new and existing petrol and petrol-hybrid light duty vehicles, with minimum recommendations on the changes required to the FQD to achieve this objective.

The EU sets a target of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 55% by 2030 (compared to 1990 levels) and aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. A total GHG emission reduction from road transport of 86% by 2040 (vs. 2015 levels) is outlined in the Commission’s 2040 Climate Target Impact Assessment which recommends an approximate economy-wide GHG reduction of 90%.

To achieve this, CO₂ emissions must be reduced from both new and existing vehicles on EU roads. While the Commission is preparing a revision of the CO₂ emission standards for light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles the current framework focuses primarily on reducing emissions from the new fleet sales through increased electrification. At the same time, there is an important opportunity to complement this effort by addressing the continued and significant presence of internal combustion engine vehicles in the European fleet.

Currently, 249 million passenger cars are registered in the EU, more than half of which run on petrol (ACEA, 2025a). Although this numbers of new registrations is increasingly being complemented by hybrid and plug‑in hybrid vehicles and the rapid growth of battery‑electric vehicles, conventional and hybrid-ICE powertrains will continue to make up a substantial share of the fleet in the coming years. This potential from the current and developing EU fleet should be utilised to help meet future decarbonisation targets through an expanded use of renewable fuel blends.

Ethanol offers a practical pathway to achieve this. European renewable ethanol already delivers 81.6% average GHG reduction compared to fossil petrol (ePURE, 2026). Transitioning from E10 to a reliable and consistent E20 could therefore lead to tangible reduction in CO₂ emissions from petrol vehicles (CEN, 2020). With the review of the renewable energy legal framework post-2030 now ongoing, enabling higher ethanol blends as part of the future framework is a significant lever to achieve continued GHG reduction from road.

Read the full open letter here.