Platts
Editorial

.

More blogs from Platts
Regulatory uncertainty of European biofuel legislation bad for investment: panel
22nd September 2021 08:30 GMT

Regulatory uncertainty of European biofuel legislation is poor for investment into the renewable transport sector, panelists said at the S&P Global Platts European Biofuels Virtual Conference Sept. 21.

Constant revisions of legislation are not good for the industry, which requires stable framework, said Andre Paula Santos, Public Affairs Director at the European Biodiesel Board, at the conference.

“There was REDI and then REDII, which we thought leads us to 2030 but then the Green Deal is a higher level of ambition. Nations are still imposing REDII and now we have REDIII. The Fit for 55 package sends mixed messages and the [RefuelEU] maritime and [RefuelEU] aviation files are not coherent,” said Santos.

“People are scared to invest as they don’t know when legislation will change,” added Santos. Another concern for the industry was the lack of definitive feedstocks in European legislation for advanced feedstocks, causing uncertainty in developing facilities in utilizing listed feedstocks.

The lack of a holistic approach to renewable targets set by the European Commission for the road, aviation and maritime sectors will also have dire consequences on economic and environmental terms, said Angel Alberdi, Secretary General at EWABA, at the conference.

“The lack of a holistic approach will have a major impact on feedstock availability. Demand for waste lipids for 2030 will be above 11 million mt, it's madness, these volumes are not there. Waste and residues are naturally limited so they have to be put to better use and to whichever technology results in higher GHG savings.”

The current volumes of waste lipids in Europe is under 3 million mt, said Alberdi, and with demand from the maritime sector for European vessels and the aviation sector, the domestic collections and imports will not be sufficient to meet demand.


Platts ,
22nd September 2021 08:30 GMT