LONDON -- In a hotly contested vote today, Europe’s Parliament voted to cap the amount of conventional or “first-generation” biofuels (those derived from food crops) that can be used in the EU’s transport sector.
In line
LONDON -- In a hotly contested vote today, Europe’s Parliament voted to cap the amount of conventional or “first-generation” biofuels (those derived from food crops) that can be used in the EU’s transport sector.
In line with the Union’s climate targets, European member states will need to source 10 percent of their transport fuel from renewable sources by 2020. No more than 6 percent of that amount will be sourced from conventional biofuels if the cap bill is passed into law following the next legislative step, which would normally be a negotiation between the parliamentary rapporteur and the Council of Europe.
However, some MEPs have asked for a second reading of the bill. According to activist group Birdlife Europe, this means that “the ball is kicked into the long grass” and a resolution on the issue is unlikely before Parliamentary elections in May 2014.
The cap appears to have been a compromise between two separate proposals to amend 2009’s biofuels law, put forward by different factions. The parliamentary environment committee voted in July to impose a 5.5 percent cap on conventional biofuels, while a proposal from the industry committee asked for 6.5 percent. A high