T&E recommendations for the Renewable Energy Directive review
The Renewable Energy Directive (RED) is the main EU legislation that regulates the use of renewable fuels in Europe. But it has been a disaster to date.
It set a high target of 10% for renewables in transport in 2020 for each country. But the right sustainability safeguards were not put in place, meaning crop based biofuels like palm and soy oil became the dominant biofuels. This led to widespread deforestation, biodiversity loss and more CO2 emissions than the fuels they replaced.
The review of the RED, proposed in July, as part of the Fit for 55 package, is a unique opportunity to accelerate the use of genuinely renewable fuels for the long-term decarbonisation of transport – renewable electricity, renewable hydrogen and e-fuels.
Compared to the current RED, the Commission’s proposal does create new incentives for electricity and renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO). But it doesn’t make any meaningful changes to fix the failed biofuels rules.
T&E’s latest position paper outlines a number of recommendations for the new RED:
T&E's consultation response to the Commission's methodology to determine the GHG emission savings of low-carbon fuels
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