EU Parliament Votes to Limit Crop-Based Biofuels

The European Union Parliament has voted to impose a 6 percent limit on the use of biofuels derived from food crops to address competition with food production and to spur the development of renewable fuels made from non-food sources.

The vote seeks to avert the EU biofuel requirement of 10 percent for transportation fuels through 2020 based on a directive that dates to 2008. The EU Parliament accounted for indirect land use change (ILUC) factors. A risk exists that biofuel production could spur massive conversion of forest and peatland into land for biofuel crops, which could lead to greater greenhouse-gas emissions.

The 6 percent cap is higher than the 5.5 percent cap proposed by the Environment Committee, but lower than the 8 percent lobbied for by the biofuels industry. The Parliament also proposed a 2.5 percent target for second generation biofuels or fuels derived from non-food sources like farm and industry waste. A 7.5 percent limit on ethanol in gasoline blends was also approved.