Delays in implementing European legislation on biofuels

Today, the Commission issued letters of formal notice to nine Member States that have not yet communicated their target for the share of biofuels in 2005, as required by the European legislation on biofuels (Directive 2003/30/EC).

This legislation requires that an increasing proportion of all diesel and petrol sold in the Member States be biofuels, starting with 2% in 2005 and progressively increasing so as to reach a minimum of 5.75% of fuels sold in 2010. The action plan adopted in 2001 to foster the use of alternative fuels for transport indicated that the use of fuels (such as ethanol and biodiesel) derived from agricultural sources was the technology with the greatest potential in the short to medium term.

- Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland and Slovenia have not yet submitted their national report to the Commission that was due by 1 July 2004 under the biofuels Directive.
- Cyprus and Estonia’s national reports have been submitted but do not include a target for the share of biofuels.
- Finally the targets mentioned in the national reports of France and Portugal are not definitive.

Background:
Biofuels have an important role to play in European transport and energy policy because they are one of the few options available for replacing petrol and diesel as transport fuels. They tackle climate change by avoiding emissions of greenhouse gases; they diversify Europe’s sources of energy and reduce dependence on oil imports; and they offer new markets for European agriculture.

Biofuels are combustible fuels which can be used instead of or in a mixture with conventional fuel and which are obtained by processing or fermenting non-fossil biological sources such as plant oils, sugar beet, cereals and other crops and organic waste material. They include biodiesel made from oil seeds (especially rape) and used cooking oil; bioethanol made from grain and sugar crops; and biogas made from landfill gas and farm waste.