A leaked draft of proposed EU legislation on biofuels shows that crop-based biofuels may be falling out of political favour, according to Reuters media group.
If approved, the new rules would end subsidies on crop-based biofuels by 2020 and encourage the use of alternatives such as biofuels from algae and municipal waste to meet EU targets for low-emission transport fuels. They would also limit the percentage of crop-based biofuels, which include oil seeds, sugar and cereals, that is in the transport fuel mix to 5 per cent - effectively halting growth of the US$21.7 billion industry.
The policy shift comes in the wake of EU land-use studies showing that emissions from crop-based biofuels, which compete with food crops for agricultural land, are higher than previously believed because they indirectly generate carbon emissions by increasing deforestation. Using the new emissions data, biodiesel from palm oil, soybeans and rapeseed would no longer be eligible for use as low-emission transport fuel.
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