Governments have supported the use of biofuels in transportation through renewable energy policies in an attempt to reduce global oil dependence, despite NGO fears of their detrimental implications. This has increased the use of crop production for biofuels, which has had severe consequences for the climate and ecosystems.
Our goal is to ensure that the policy ceases supporting biofuels derived from food crops and that support for palm and soy biofuels is phased out as soon as possible. We are also advocating for more stringent criteria for biofuels derived from scrap and residues.
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Since 2009, the EU Fuel Quality Directive provision has required fuel suppliers to lower the carbon footprint of transportation fuel. The rule also required oil corporations to report the various types of fuels they were importing to the EU market.
The law was intended to prohibit the use of the most damaging oil sources, such as tar sands and coal. However, the petroleum industry in Europe and North America, and also the Canadian government, have opposed the proposed restrictions from the start.
However, because there is currently little transparency on the kind of crude oil used in refined petroleum shipments, determining how much dirty oil enters Europe altogether is challenging.
Biofuels
Greater demand for food-based biofuels results in increased resource utilization of agricultural land. Because most arable land is already used to grow food, new places must be explored to fulfill rising demand.
This results in deforestation and the depletion of rich ecosystems. In some circumstances, ILUC emissions are so significant that some biofuels emit more GHGs than coal and oil.
To address the ILUC concern, EU legislators imposed a restriction on the number of biofuels employed to achieve renewable objectives and established a roadmap for adopting advanced biofuels.
Hydrogen
When electrolysis is employed, hydrogen is only as pure as the power supply used. As a result, the only responsible and sustainable method of producing hydrogen is to employ 100 percent renewable electricity.
In the near future, hydrogen will be expensive and scarce. To meet its ambitious climate targets, the EU is working on many projects to enhance the percentage of renewable energy in commercial vehicles.