Germany says carbon saving is 40 percent from ethanol; UK says 20 percent negative; chaos looms in incentives lined to carbon

In the UK, an article in Chemistry & Industry said that disagreements between the UK, Germany and US governments about corn ethanol’s carbon footprint pose the potential for chaos. Eric Johnson, editor of Environmental Impact Assessment Review, said that German proposals on corn ethanol state a carbon saving of over 40%, while the US rates corn ethanol at a 22% saving, while the UK estimates that corn ethanol is 20 percent carbon neutral. “Bioethanol from US corn will win in Germany, barely pass muster under US rules and lose in the UK,” Johnson wrote, as governments begin to link incentives to carbon impact.

The EU is facing a stalemate over implementation of biofuels sustainability standards. The European Parliament wants sustainability criteria to be included in the EU Fuel Quality Directive, while the European Commission said that the criteria is already included in the January 23rd directive on renewables, which instructed that 10% of all transport fuel consumption in the EU be sourced from biofuels by 2020. The EU has agreed that biofuels must deliver a life-cycle CO2 savings of 35 percent to count towards the 10 percent target.

Members of the European Parliament in Brussels recently approved the emissions reduction plan proposed by the European Commission. The package of proposals included proposals on emission cuts, renewable sources, carbon capture and revision of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, with a stated goal of reducing EU greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent and increasing the share of renewable energies in the energy consumption by 2020 to 20 percent.

New EU laws are expected to ban the importation of biofuels grown in forests, grassland or wetlands, and is expected to affect palm oil based imports due to deforestation, South American ethanol and biodiesel with grassland or forest land use issues, and US corn ethanol due to lower emissions savings.

The European Union introduced measures last week to establish punitive tariffs on US biofuel imports and require a 35 percent carbon emission reduction from any feedstock allowed to be used in biofuel production. Canola oil, which is Europe’s feedstock of choice, has a 37 percent emission savings. It is expected that the EU will ban palm oil made on plantations established after 2003.

Last week, a consortium of 17 non-governmental organizations called on EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs to require sustainability standards for biofuel production or eliminate biofuels mandates.

The NGOs were responding to a draft biofuels mandate for the EU which will be finalized later this month and raises the use of biofuels to 10 percent of all fuels by 2020. The NGOs said that the plan did not fully address water shortage and deforestation issues. The NGOs called for a ban on the use of sugar cane, corn, and some varieties of canola and palm oils in biofuels production. The NGOs proposed threshold, that only feedstocks producing a minimum savings of 50 percent in CO2, has won significant support in the European Parliament.

In Washington, the multi-institution study published in Science magazine concluded that, over a 30-year period, the production of corn ethanol increases greenhouse gas emissions by 93 percent, instead of reducing them by 20 percent. Researchers said that previous studies did not take into account the effect of converting forest or grasslands to biofuel production. The study concluded that planting switchgrass would increase emissions by 50 percent. Study authors said that the role of biofuels should be limited to conversion of waste products.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

Sabre, Fuel Plus, Lufthansa launch new aviation carbon calculators as EU emissions trading and new multi-fuel world looms

Carbon calculation for aviation was in the spotlight as Sabre, Lufthansa Consulting and FuelPlus launched new carbon emission calculation tools designed to assist airlines in their new EU emissions re...

Point Carbon reports Obama carbon caps will cause $0.12 per gallon increase in gasoline by 2012

In Washington, Point Carbon said that its analysis of the federal carbon cap proposed by President Obama reflected a $13.70 price per ton of carbon allowances in 2012. European allowances are currentl...

Shell exec: Tie biofuels incentives to specific carbon reductions from each fuel type

Royal Dutch Shell executive Graham Sweeney said that government policymakers should link biofuels incentives to the carbon-reducing qualities of the fuel. He said that mandates do not take into accoun...

EPA says ethanol plants can create negative carbon footprint if using CHP system

The EPA said in a new report that ethanol plants that use natural gas CHP (combined heat and power) systems can create net negative carbon emissions. Recently, Carbon Green said it expects to signi...

Germany to slash greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2020; targets sugar beet ethanol as component

In Germany, the federal government approved a package of measures aimed to cut greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2020, and will preset the package to the UN Conference on Climate Change now under...

Renewable fuels and green chemicals producers pursue emissions allowances as cap-and-trade legislation looms

In New York, a report from Reuters covers efforts by BIO among other organizations to persuade Congress to extend pollution permits to makers of biofuels, renewable chemicals and plastics. Under the l...