Scrapping of ‘multipliers’ wins backing from biofuels industry
The biofuels industry has supported the European Commission’s proposal to end the statistical inflation of waste-based biofuels in the EU’s road transport energy mix - a practice they say masks the use of fossil fuels.
The revised 2.2% target for advanced biofuels, such as used cooking oil, is lower than the 3.5% proposed in the 2018 renewable energy directive.
The scrapping of so-called ‘multipliers’ – which allowed waste-based biofuels to be double-counted towards targets – means the percentage of second-generation biofuels powering EU transport will increase in real terms, Euractiv reported.
The EU uses multipliers to make it advantageous to opt for more expensive but cleaner means of energy production.
But critics argue it obscures the reality of its energy mix.
“The Commission’s proposal to end the use of multipliers is good news for the fight against climate change because it ends what was essentially an accounting trick to hide the EU’s continued dependence on fossil fuels for transport,” said Emmanuel Desplechin, secretary-general of the renewable ethanol company ePURE.
The revised 2.2% target for advanced biofuels, such as used cooking oil, is lower than the 3.5% proposed in the 2018 renewable energy directive.
The scrapping of so-called ‘multipliers’ – which allowed waste-based biofuels to be double-counted towards targets – means the percentage of second-generation biofuels powering EU transport will increase in real terms, Euractiv reported.
The EU uses multipliers to make it advantageous to opt for more expensive but cleaner means of energy production.
But critics argue it obscures the reality of its energy mix.
“The Commission’s proposal to end the use of multipliers is good news for the fight against climate change because it ends what was essentially an accounting trick to hide the EU’s continued dependence on fossil fuels for transport,” said Emmanuel Desplechin, secretary-general of the renewable ethanol company ePURE.
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