'Groundbreaking' biofuels bill enters final stages: VDB

The environment committee of the German parliament, the Bundestag, agreed today on a final draft law aimed to transpose the recast of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II), the country's biofuels industry association VDB said today.

The bill, which will be submitted in tomorrow's concluding proceedings in parliament, sees the German greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction quota increase to 7pc in 2022, from currently 6pc. It will then continuously rise between 1pc and 1.5pc until 2027, when blending mandate reaches 14.5pc. In 2028, the quota is planned to increase to 17.5pc, before rising to 25pc in 2030, according to VDB.

The new bill is a "groundbreaking decision for more climate protection in traffic" and "strengthens industry and agriculture in Germany", VDB managing director Elmar Baumann said today.

The draft law incorporates a more even rise of the emission reduction requirements for fuel suppliers than the original bill submitted by the German government. It takes into account the latest ruling of Germany's federal constitutional court, which called the country's climate protection law partly unconstitutional.

VDB said that under the new draft law, obligated parties shall not be able to count palm oil-based biodiesel towards the GHG quota from 2023 onwards with palm oil considered as a biofuel feedstock with a high risk of indirect land use change (ILUC). Biodiesel made from advanced feedstock palm oil mill effluent (POME) shall only be single- instead of double-counted.

The draft further introduces the possibility to co-processing - the simultaneous conversion of renewable and fossil feedstock – of advanced feedstocks listed in Annex IX part A of RED II.

The use of upstream emission reduction (UER) projects which generate GHG savings in the stages before feedstock reaches a refinery or storage facility shall continue until 2026, according to the association.

The bill does not allow denatured ethanol to be counted towards the blending mandate to avoid weakening the domestic ethanol industry and to reduce import pressure from countries such as the US and Brazil, VDB said.

The possibility of green hydrogen produced from biogenic feedstock to be counted towards the quota shall be revisited from 2026 onwards. The current draft only allows green hydrogen made from non-biogenic sources to be counted towards Germany's GHG quota.

By Sophie Barthel