The Commission proposes to limit global land conversion for biofuel production

The new European Commission's proposal on biofuels intends to minimise the climate impacts of biofuel production. It therefore proposes to limit global land conversion for biofuel production, and raise the climate benefits of biofuels used in the EU.

The European Commission presented a proposal that intends to stimulate the development of alternative, so-called second generation biofuels from non-food feedstock, like waste or straw, which emit substantially less greenhouse gases than fossil fuels and do not directly interfere with global food production. The proposal also suggests to limit global land conversion for biofuel production, and raise the climate benefits of biofuels used in the EU. In 2011, European researchers came up with a solution to redesign engines better adapted to biofuels.

In particular, the Commission proposes to amend the current legislation on biofuels through the Renewable Energy and the Fuel Quality Directives. In particular, to increase the minimum greenhouse gas saving threshold for new installations to 60%; to include indirect land use change (ILUC) factors in the reporting by fuel suppliers and Member States of greenhouse gas savings of biofuels and bioliquids; to limit the amount of food crop-based biofuels and bioliquids that can be counted towards the EU's 10% target for renewable energy in the transport sector by 2020, to the current consumption level, 5% up to 2020, while keeping the overall renewable energy and carbon intensity reduction targets; and to provide market incentives for biofuels with no or low indirect land use change emissions.

To avoid possible negative side-effects, both directives impose sustainability criteria that biofuels and bioliquids need to satisfy in order to be counted towards the targets and receive support. Recent scientific studies have shown that when taking into account indirect land use change, for example when biofuel production causes food or feed production to be displaced to non-agricultural land such as forests, some biofuels may actually be adding as much to greenhouse gas emissions as the fossil fuels they replace.