Compulsory targets for mixing biofuels in road transport fuels are here to stay, forming an integral part of the EU Commission's new strategy for tackling climate change.
New proposals were tabled in Brussels on Wednesday (23 January), setting out exactly how the EU is going to meet the commitment heads of state gave last year to cut greenhouse gasses by 20% by 2020.
Among the many elements, which include a revamping of the Emissions Trading System for industry, the EU also plans to impose a 10% minimum inclusion rate for biofuels in road transport fuel by 2020.
"Part of our mandate was the 10% target for biofuels, so that transport plays a part in emission cuts," EU Commission president, Jose Barroso told the European parliament. "But I want to be clear that, in putting forward proposals on biofuels, we have also fully respected the need for environmental sustainability."
The proposals therefore include specific sustainability criteria, so that home-produced and imported biofuels only come from sources and raw materials that do not damage the environment.
"They must achieve at least a minimum level of greenhouse gas savings and respect a number of requirements related to biodiversity," said a commission statement. "This will prevent the use of land with high biodiversity value, such as natural forests and protected areas."
But the proposals have been attacked by environmental group, Friends of the Earth, which called on the EU to abandon its 10% target and strengthen the sustainability criteria.
"Growing crops to fuel our thirsty and inefficient cars will be a disaster for the environment and is a false solution to climate change," said anti-biofuels campaigner Adrian Bebb. "Any claims that biofuels are sustainable will be a sour joke for the world's poor, who will be forced to pay more for their food."
But the policy has been defended by EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs who insisted that biofuels were delivering "significant greenhouse gas reductions compared with oil".
"Biofuels are the most immediately feasible way of slowing the worrying growth of greenhouse gas emissions from transport," he said. In addition they helped reduce dependence on imported oil, provided development opportunities for poor countries and paved the way for second generation biofuels.