<article><p class="lead">Germany's environment ministry is planning to submit a draft law to ban the use of biofuels from crop and feed "as soon as possible", minister Steffi Lemke said at the BMUV agricultural conference.</p><p>Crop-based biofuels stand for land use and loss of biodiversity, and to replace only around 4pc of the fossil fuel used on German roads an area equivalent to 20pc of German arable land is consumed at home or abroad, Lemke said in her speech. This would not be sustainable.</p><p>The minister said she aims to increase the use of biofuels from waste and residues where she sees untapped potential to achieve the country's greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction quota. </p><p>Lemke had set up in May 2022 a working group to draft a proposal to phase out the use of biofuels produced from food and feed crops by 2030 on the back of rising food costs and waning supply of agricultural products caused by disruption of exports from main suppliers Ukraine and Russia.</p><p><a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2332243">A first working paper</a> suggested lowering the use of crop-based biofuels to comply with Germany's greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction quota to 2.5pc in 2023, from 4.4pc this year. The cap would then fall to 2.3pc in 2024, 2.1pc in 2025, 1.9pc in 2026-27, 1.2pc in 2028-29 and then zero the following year. No draft law has been submitted.</p><p>The suggestions were criticised by German biofuels association VDB, which said a reduction of the proportion of biofuels is unnecessary because ethanol producers mostly use grain that is unsuitable for the food sector, and biodiesel producers have already cut back their output in favour of food production. </p><p class="bylines">By Sophie Barthel</p></article>
