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Workshop "Biofuel Policy for a Low Carbon Future"

 

The workshop "Biofuel Policy for a Low Carbon Future" organized by the Low Carbon Programme, was held on September 19 in Bilbao.
The Low Carbon Programme, is a Joint Research Programme on Energy and Environment, sponsored by Fundación Repsol and launched by the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3).
The main aim of the workshop was to discuss with experts from leading international research institutions, policymakers and social and business representative’s issues associated to biofuels policy in Europe.

Further information of the Joint Research Programme at http://www.lowcarbonprogramme.org/

Second annual Workshop organized by the Low Carbon Programme "Biofuel Policy for a Low Carbon Future "
 

Transport is a very important sector in the transition to a low carbon Europe. Transport uses a third of all EU energy and is responsible for 25% of the European GHG emissions. Moreover, it is the only major EU sector where GHG emissions are increasing. This has made the European Commission to set for 2050 an 80% reduction of carbon emissions in transport and 70% reduction in the use of oil. Achieving these ambitious targets will require a complex set of means including the reduction in scale (demand of transport), improved technology (increase the efficiency in vehicle’s engines) as well as a change in the fuel mix. It is in this latter aspect where biofuels are expected to play a significant role. Thus, the first presentation this morning, by Arno Behrens from the Centre for European Policy Studies will focus on the role of biofuels in the objective to achieve a Low Carbon Transport in Europe.
The workshop had two presentations that covered two of the major concerns raised in the last decade regarding policies promoting the use of biofuels. The first concern is about changes in land use caused by the increased demand for biomass. Considering these indirect land use changes we may find that some biofuels can actually lead to higher carbon emissions than fossil fuels. Dr David Laborde, from IFPRI, explained the science behind indirect land use changes in a moment where the  biofuels industry was continuosly disputing it.
The second concern had to do with the impact of biofuel policies on agricultural price levels and volatility and María Blanco, Associate Professor at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid dealt with the fuel versus food debate. The topic was approached from other three new perspectives. First of all, Dr. Thonier, from Bio Intelligence, a consultancy firm based in Paris, shared some details of a set of projects that BIO IS was carrying out for the European Commission and the French Department of Agriculture and motivated the need to introduce flexibility into biofuel mandates. Nusa Urbancic, clean fuels manager at environmental NGO Transport and Environment shared  their reflections on how to fix EU biofuels policy. Finally, Carlos Díaz, from Repsol provided us with an oil company’s view on biofuels mandates.
After that, an open discussion was opened among the participants, with some closing comments from Professor Markandya, Scientific Director of BC3, Basque Centre for Climate Change


 

 







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