Statement HARRPA on draft legislative report on Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) by Parliamentary Rapporteur Mrs Corinne Lepage (ALDE, FR).
On 17 April, MEP Corinne Lepage, Rapporteur of the ILUC dossier in the Environment Committee of the European Parliament, issued her draft report on the European Commission’s proposal to amend the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) and the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). The draft report seeks to strengthen the objectives of the Commission’s proposal by introducing ILUC factors in sustainability criteria, but would allow the biofuels industry a longer transition period to adjust to the new rules. HARRPA supports Mrs Lepage on her practical approach in moving the controversial ILUC dossier forward, whilst clearly setting the direction for carbon accounting in sustainability criteria. HARRPA notes the Rapporteur’s suggestion of a new annex and hopes it will help clarifying different types of wastes and residues. However, taking into account that the proposal is put forward at a point in time where resource efficiency is becoming essential for European legislation and policy, HARRPA would see it as logical and also necessary to introduce the principal of cascading use. By cascading use one means maximising the value from a given amount of biomass by fulfilling both material and energy needs from the same feedstock. HARRPA further agrees with Mrs Lepage’s proposal to strengthen the text by introducing definitions for important terms that will make the legislation more clear and coherent.
Sustainability criteria are an appropriate and effective method by which the EU can differentiate
values among various feedstocks. Equally important is to ensure that misplaced incentives do
not threaten the availability of crucial feedstocks like crude tall oil to existing, viable, and nonsubsidised industries such as the pine chemicals industry. Only by securing feedstock availability through a value-based cascading use approach will Europe be able to create an undistorted market within the internal market, whilst lowering greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring a future sustainable development.
Commenting on the draft report Eric Moussu, Chairman of HARRPA stated: “Mrs Lepage's report demonstrates that the climate change and the promotion of a strong and sustainable European bio-economy are high on her agenda. Her report recognises that Europe’s present biofuels industry has both strengths and weaknesses and make a valuable and practical contribution to the ongoing carbon footprint debate ”