EU-28: Biofuels Annual
On June 14, 2018, an agreement on the successor to the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) was reached for 2021-2030. The RED II sets a limit of 7 percent on the blending of conventional (food based) biofuels, well above the blended 4.1 percent forecast for this year. This is less stifling than some of the previous proposals but conventional biofuels must compete with other forms of renewable transport energy and current imports of biodiesel and potentially bioethanol are a threat for the domestic producers. Based on the readiness of the technology and the double counting factor, biofuels produced from waste fats and oils have the best outlook for further expansion on the short term. The RED II set ambitious goals for biofuels produced from cellulosic feedstocks, but so far commercial production of these advanced biofuels have been limited. The EU market for wood pellets is expected to continue its growth during 2018-2020, but further expansion could be limited by individual Member State sustainability requirements.
