Europe Moves to Limit Use of Food-Based Biofuels

The European Commission is proposing new rules for how the region will meet its goal of generating 10% of its transportation energy needs from renewable sources by 2020.

The current 2009 directive bans the conversion of forests and wetlands to make biofuels. It also requires biofuels to emit at least 35% less greenhouse gases than the fossil fuels they replace. That minimum will rise to 50% in 2017.

The EC's new plan does not ban existing biofuels. But it would raise the minimum greenhouse gas reduction for new capacity to 60% and limit the contribution of food-based fuels to half the region's 10% biofuel target.

The EC's commissions for climate action says the proposal sends a "clear signal" that growth in biofuel production must come from sustainable fuels that don't compete with food.

The commission says it also will now include "indirect land use change" factors the impact of diverting food crops to fuel, for example to help determine sustainability when calculating the greenhouse gas levels of biofuels. The EC points to research indicating that some biofuel processes could contribute as much greenhouse gas as the fossil fuels they would replace.