Commission Sets Up System for Certifying Sustainable Biofuels

The rules for certification schemes are part of a set of guidelines explaining how the Renewable Energy Directive, coming into effect in December 2010, should be implemented.

11 Jun 2010 --- The Commission has decided to encourage industry, governments and NGOs to set up certification schemes for all types of biofuels, including those imported into the EU. It laid down what the schemes must do to be recognised by the Commission. This will help implement the EU's requirements that biofuels must deliver substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and should not come from forests, wetlands and nature protection areas. The rules for certification schemes are part of a set of guidelines explaining how the Renewable Energy Directive, coming into effect in December 2010, should be implemented.

Günther Oettinger, Commissioner responsible for Energy, said: "In the years to come, biofuels are the main alternative to petrol and diesel used in transport, which produces more than 20% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union. We have to ensure that the biofuels used are also sustainable. Our certification scheme is the most stringent in the world and will make sure that our biofuels meet the highest environmental standards. It will have positive effects also on other regions as it covers imported biofuels."

The package adopted today consists of two Communications and a Decision which should help businesses and Member States to implement the Renewable Energy Directive. They focus especially on the sustainability criteria for biofuels and what is to be done in order to control that only sustainable biofuels are used.

• Sustainable Biofuel Certificates: The Commission encourages industry, governments and NGOs to set up "voluntary schemes" to certify biofuel sustainability – and explains the standards these must meet to gain EU recognition. One of the main criteria is that they have independent auditors which check the whole production chain, from the farmer and the mill, via the trader, to the fuel supplier who delivers petrol or diesel to the filling station. The Communication sets standards requiring this auditing to be reliable and fraud-resistant.
• Protecting untouched nature: The Communication explains that biofuels should not be made from raw materials from tropical forests or recently deforested areas, drained peatland, wetland or highly biodiverse areas – and how this should be assessed. It makes it clear that the conversion of a forest to a palm oil plantation would fall foul of the sustainability requirements.
• Promote only biofuels with high greenhouse gas savings: The Communication reiterates that Member States have to meet binding, national targets for renewable energy and that only those biofuels with high greenhouse gas savings count for the national targets, explaining also how this is calculated. Biofuels must deliver greenhouse gas savings of at least 35% compared to fossil fuels, rising to 50% in 2017 and to 60%, for biofuels from new plants, in 2018.

The 2009 Renewable Energy Directive sets an overall EU target of 20% renewable energy in total energy consumption by 2020, translated into binding national targets for Member States. Every Member States has to reach individual national targets for the overall share of renewable energy. In addition, in the transport sector, all Member States have to reach the same target of a 10% share of renewable energy.

Renewables include solid biomass, wind, solar energy and hydro power as well as biofuels. Only biofuels that meet the EU's sustainability requirements can count towards the targets in the Directive.

Novozymes welcomed the European Commission plans to promote sustainable biofuels by setting up a quality-certification process for biodiesel and ethanol and clarifying the EU’s position regarding biofuels made from replacing forests, peat marshes and farms with energy crops.

“Novozymes welcomes this policy initiative from the European Commission as an opportunity to kick start the deployment of advanced biofuels in Europe. The technology is ready and there is no doubt that this biofuels industry which relies on agricultural and forestry residues and waste as its feedstock will qualify for this sustainability standard and stamp. We look forward to working in Europe with the Commission, the European Parliament and national governments on the creation of solid framework conditions for the development of advanced biofuels which can spur rural growth and job creation and emit up to 90% less CO2 than fossil fuels”, says Novozymes President for Europe, Lars Christian Hansen.

Meanwhile Novozymes announced the launch of a new enzyme that makes it possible to produce more ethanol from the same amount of corn. The product, Spirizyme Excel, converts more starch in corn, wheat, and other feedstocks into sugars which can be fermented to ethanol, thereby allowing producers to increase yields by more than one percent. Compared to other available solutions, a typical ethanol plant can gain $1 million or more per year using the enzyme.

”Novozymes is at the forefront of developing technologies that allow biofuel producers to make more from less,” says Poul Ruben Andersen, Biofuel Marketing Director of Novozymes. “Novozymes has achieved great breakthroughs in cellulosic biofuel recently, but this does not mean we have forgotten about corn ethanol. We have delivered market-leading innovation to this industry for a long time and we will continue to do so both for corn and cellulosic ethanol”.

Unlike other starch-converting enzymes, Spirizyme Excel breaks down the most difficult starch fractions in the feedstock to maximize biofuel production yields.  The greater the starch conversion, the higher the output of ethanol. 

“The biofuel industry has experienced tremendous technology improvements over the past years,” says Poul Ruben Andersen. “Increased efficiency in crop production, ethanol conversion, and co-product use means that today ethanol made from corn can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 70 percent compared to gasoline. “

Today, an average acre of corn will yield roughly 440 gallons of ethanol. Corn yields have improved by 70 percent per acre and ethanol plants can get 50 percent more ethanol out of the corn compared to 1977.

In 2009, the US produced 10.8 billion gallons of ethanol, which supported nearly 400,000 jobs, contributed $53.3 billion to GDP, and displaced the need for 364 million barrels of oil. US legislation mandates production of 12 billion gallons of ethanol in 2010.