Energy ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday (4 March) are likely to have tense discussions on the future of biofuel following the European Commission’s suggestion last month that the EU should scrap targets for transport fuel from renewables after 2020.

The Commission on 22 January recommended that binding national targets for renewable energy should be scrapped after 2020 and two sub-targets should also be dropped: 10% of transport fuel coming from renewables, and an obligation on fuel suppliers to reduce their emissions by 6% by 2020.

Some member states, including the UK, want renewable energy targets scrapped while others, including Germany, want them maintained. The biofuel industry says that without an extension of the targets until 2030 there will be no certainty for investors. Last week, seven industry associations sent a letter to EU energy ministers asking them to support a separate framework for renewable energy in transport at their meeting on Tuesday.

“Since the introduction of the [transport fuel sub- targets], the use of biofuels in Europe has grown to 4.8% of total transport energy, and is projected to reach 8% by 2020,” the letter says. “These binding targets were key to providing the necessary guidance and predictability that encouraged investment in the sector.” The letter says that investor confidence in the sector has already been “badly shaken” by the Commission’s proposal to restrict biofuel based on the amount of indirect land use change (ILUC) caused. This proposal is stalled in the European Parliament.

Yesterday (26 February), an alliance of advanced biofuel producers and environmental groups released a study showing that converting Europe’s wastes and residues into biofuel would achieve greenhouse gas savings of 60%-90% compared to fossil fuels, and could save around 37 million tonnes of oil a year by 2030. Abandoning targets would make such changes difficult to achieve, the study says.

“The environmental and socio-economic potential of advanced biofuels is too great to take the risk of letting investments go outside Europe, where policy frameworks are more favourable,” said Thomas Nagy, executive vice-president of biotechnology company Novozymes.

The energy ministers’ discussion on 2030 targets will feed into the March European Council, when EU leaders will discuss the issue. On Tuesday, the ministers will also hold a public debate on Europe’s rising energy prices.