In the EU, we’ve got work to do with bioethanol

David Carpintero, director general at ePURE, offers his expert analysis on what the bioethanol market will be like for the year ahead. After a disappointing revision of the EU’s CO2 standards for cars and vans and a trade policy that puts European farmers and biorefineries at risk, this new year promises to be a challenging one for the European renewable ethanol sector. However, there’s a way to make things right. First of all, we need to talk more about the importance of diversifying uses of biomass. It’s clear from the exclusion of crop-based biofuels from the CO2 for cars revision that the old, repeatedly disproven ‘food versus fuel’ argument persists in some corners of the European Commission. We will be working tirelessly in 2026 to help policymakers understand the reality, as confirmed in a recent study conducted by the respected Nova Institute: that using agricultural biomass for bioenergy and bio-based materials increases food security, enhances resilient and competitive agriculture, supports...