COMMISSION PRESENTS PROPOSAL ON HIGH ILUC RISK BIOFUELS

摘要

The European Commission published its criteria for determining which crops possess a high risk of indirect land use change (ILUC) in a Delegated Act (DA) on March 13, 2019. The use of high ILUC risk biofuel feedstocks will be capped at 2019 levels until 2023 and reduced gradually to zero by 2030 under the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). Member state governments and the European Parliament have two months to decide whether to accept or to veto the DA. The law has caused uproar in Indonesia, which had threatened a World Trade Organization challenge, and Malaysia, which is looking into restricting imports of French products over French plans to remove palm oil from biofuel in 2020. The Commission concluded that 45% of the expansion of palm oil production since 2008 led to destruction of forests, wetlands or peatlands and resultant greenhouse gas releases. That compared to 8% for soybeans and 1% for sunflowers and rapeseed. It set 10% as the dividing line between less and more harmful feedstocks.