EU Energy Ministers Dilute Biofuels Measure

BRUSSELS, Belgium, June 10, 2002 (ENS) - European Union energy ministers have scaled back the first part of a European Commission plan to increase the use of agricultural biofuels in transport as a means of combating climate change.

Meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, the council said proposed minimum targets for achieving market penetration should be indicative and optional rather than mandatory.

The Commission's target for biofuels to make up two percent of transport fuel sold by 2005 and 5.75 percent by 2010 remains intact in the agreement, which is still provisional pending an opinion from the European Parliament.

Only three countries - Austria, Spain and Italy - supported making them binding, well short of a blocking minority.

Traffic on England's M4 Motorway (Photo courtesy Freefoto.com)

Plugged as a major European Union initiative in the fight against rising greenhouse gas emissions, the biofuels package has been coolly received by both environmentalists, who say the climate benefits are unproven, and conventional oil-based fuel producers, who say it will not reduce fossil fuel dependence.

"This has been motivated by agricultural support rather than environmental outcome - and we're pleased that's been appreciated [by ministers]," campaigner Frazier Goodwin of NGO Transport and environment told reporters today.

Softer indicative targets might benefit the climate by fostering development of biofuels from non-agricultural sources such as forestry waste, Goodwin said.

Tax incentives to encourage biofuel use met a warmer reception. Unanimous agreement was reached in principle on the second part of the package, introducing tax breaks for biofuels.

The text is "not too different" from the Commission's original proposal, according to one EU official, but final adoption has been blocked by the UK in retaliation for France's decision last week to oppose an EU energy tax just ahead of domestic parliamentary elections.

France is the strongest supporter of fiscal aids for biofuels. Both items are on the agenda of next week's council of finance ministers.

In other items treated at last week's council, held jointly with industry ministers, governments rubber-stamped an agreement to improve energy efficiency in buildings, adopted a resolution on sustainable development, and approved a new set of EU guidelines on state aid to the coal industry.

{Published in cooperation with ENDS Environment Daily, Europe's choice for environmental news. Environmental Data Services Ltd, London. Email: envdaily@ends.co.uk}