“It is time to act quickly and in a targeted manner in order to ensure the much needed decarbonisation of the European transport sector”. To say it is Piero Cavigliasso, director public affairs Biochemtex (Mossi Ghisolfi Group) and president of the Leaders of Sustainable Biofuels, an European group which brings together big companies such as Clariant, UPM, British Airways and Dong Energy
“Our companies – Cavigliasso writes in an note – re-confirm the willingness to further deploy and supply the most innovative technologies to produce advanced biofuels from currently unused, underutilized or otherwise wasted raw materials in order to contribute to the EU objectives outlined in the strategy (European Strategy for Low Emission Mobility, published by the European Commission last 20 July, editor’s note).”
A predictable business environment is needed to trigger new and more substantial private investments in increased production capacity for advanced biofuels in the EU. This can only be created through a long-term (10 to 15 years) and reliable policy promoting advanced biofuels technologies, without stranding investments already made. This means setting a binding, ambitious yet realistic target for advanced biofuels with a clear trajectory: a binding minimum blending target for 2030, and a binding minimum interim target for 2025, thus sending a strong signal to the market to invest in production capacity of Advanced Biofuels now.
As outlined in the new EU Strategy for Low-Emission Mobility, “(…) low emission alternative energy, represent an opportunity for innovation and job creation and allow reducing Europe’s dependency on imported oil” and advanced and sustainable biofuels are ready to contribute significantly to those important objectives namely: further develop state of the art and world leading European clean technologies, generate additional income and sustainable development to rural areas, create quality jobs and modernize the economy, reduce oil imports thus improving EU energy security.
“We – Cavigliasso writes – welcome the intention to carefully assess the ‘investment needs for advanced biofuels’ so that they will be able to compete on the same level playing field with fossil alternatives even in a low oil price scenario. Our industry is committed to making a significant contribution to low emission mobility and meeting the EU’s ambitions of decarbonizing the transport sector. We welcome these commitments and look forward to seeing them translated by the Commission in the upcoming legislative work.”
IL BIOECONOMISTA 