Directive on the Promotion of the use of biofuels and other renewable fuels for transport

Known as the EU Biofuels Directive Directive (Directive ) 2003/30/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 May 2003 on the promotion of the use of biofuels or other renewable fuels for transport, short Biofuels Directive, are - based on the energy content - a guide for the share of renewable fuels to replace conventional fuels in front of traffic. The Biofuels Directive was repealed April 23, 2009 by the Renewable Energy Directive (EC ) ( 2009/28/EC ).

Definition and use compulsory

As biofuels at least the following products (Article 2, paragraph 2) shall for the purposes of the Directive:

• Bioethanol, biodiesel, biogas, Biomethanol Biodimethylether, bio -ETBE, bio-MTBE, synthetic biofuels, biohydrogen, Pure vegetable oil

Other renewable fuels as defined in Directive are fuels derived from other, non-biogenic, renewable energy sources as defined in Directive 2001/77/EC. This can, for example, Be wind and solar energy, geothermal, wave and tidal energy and hydropower.

The Directive required Member States to bring up to 31 December 2005, a minimum proportion of biofuels and other renewable fuels for 2% of the total amount of all petrol and diesel fuels, as measured by energy content, in traffic. Until 31 December 2010, a minimum of 5.75 % should be placed on the market. The Directive does not meet requirements for the incorporation of biogenic fuels to gasoline and diesel fuels, but called for a total share of all renewable fuels in the total fuel demand in the Member States.

Implementation in the Member States

The implementation in the Member States should be voluntary in the sense that these national indicative targets should be set taking into account the reference value for 2005 (2 %), but implementation was not legally binding. The adjacent table shows the national targets, which were for 2005, 2006 and 2010, and the references to the Commission.

According to Article 4, paragraph 1, the national targets of the EU target could differ, citing the following arguments:

• Objective factors such as a limited national potential for production of biofuels from biomass,
• The amount of resources that are allocated to the production of biomass for energy uses other than transport and the specific technical or climatic characteristics of the national fuel market,
• National policies that provide comparable resources to the production of other transport fuels based on renewable energy sources and are in conformity with the objectives of Directive 2003/30/EC.

The prescribed by Directive 2005 target was not achieved. In a progress report on the use of biofuels and other renewable fuels in the Member States of the European Union of 10 January 2007, the European Commission notes that by 2005 in the European Union, a market share of biofuels of about 1% was achieved, and thereto biodiesel a share of about 80 % and accounted for about 20 % bioethanol. Even if the meeting a target of 2% was thus not achieved this yet presented according to the Commission of doubling the share within two years dar. If all Member States achieved their own national targets, would have the market share in 2005 at about 1.4% located.

Also, the target for 2010 was estimated by the progress report is not likely to be achievable.

Repealed by Directive 2009/28/EC

As a consequence of the inadequate implementation of Directive 2003/30/EC of the beginning of 2007 was formulated as a binding target of the European Commission and the European Council, the target of 10 % biofuels by 2020. This target was finally adopted on 23 April 2009 by Directive 2009/28/EC ( Renewable Energy Directive ) relating to the total energy consumption. As reasons for the binding determination which 2009/28/EC mentions, inter alia " that a framework that includes mandatory targets should provide the company's long -term security that they need to sound and sustainable investments in the renewable energy sector to make ." According to Article 26, paragraph 3 of the Directive 2009/28/EC of the RL 2003/30/EC shall be repealed with effect from 1 January 2012.

The 10 % target for energy from renewable sources in transport by 2020 has now been set uniformly as opposed to RL 2003/30/EC in all Member States. This was justified by the fact that Member States which do not have sufficient resources to achieve the goal of biofuels relate different origin is likely. This includes both imports from Member States and imports from outside the EU. Due to the expected growth of trade with biofuels 2009/28/EC further recommends, " where necessary, propose relevant measures to achieve a balanced approach between domestic production and imports, inter alia, multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations, environmental, social and economic aspects and the security of energy supply are taken into account. "

Regarding the use of biofuels, the objectives of the Biofuel Quota Act must be adapted in Germany. As far as the Directive 2009/28/EC on the use of biomass establishes specific requirements for their production from sustainable sources, this already by the Biofuel Sustainability Ordinance (v. I, p 3182 v. September 30, 2009 Federal Law Gazette ) have been implemented. Similar requirements also exist for the generation of electricity from biomass, which were implemented with the Biomass Electricity Sustainability Ordinance ( V. v. July 23, 2009 Federal Law Gazette I p 2174 ).