In Belgium, T&E reported that 24 non-profit organizations, including T&E, WWF, Oxfam, and Birdlife, are calling on the European Commission to respect the legal obligations to review the rules on deforestation-causing biofuels.
The organizations said that the Commission has been postponing since June 2021 the publishing of the latest report on the expansion of unsustainable feedstocks for biofuels production, such as palm and soy, into highly biodiverse areas. This report is the basis for including soybean oil alongside palm oil in its classification of high ILUC risk feedstock in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), and phasing it out from counting towards renewables targets, they said.
The organizations added that both soy and palm oil have already been identified as significant drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and are covered under the recently adopted EU Deforestation Regulation. The letter calls on the Commission therefore to ensure policy consistency and prevent the RED from acting as a loophole that enables deforestation-driving products into the EU.
“All biofuels made from crops should be phased out from EU renewable energy targets, as using land for biofuel production is counterproductive in climate terms. Soy-based biodiesel is one of the worst offenders and has been proven to emit up to twice as much CO2 as the fossil fuel diesel it is used to replace when taking into account the indirect deforestation caused by the demand for soybean oil.”
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Tags: EU, Renewable Energy Directive, soybean oil
Category: Food & Agriculture
