EU Policy on alternative/renewable fuels and GHG emissions

A view of NGVA Europe

Current European trends concerning the use of energy points at a situation where the greenhouse gas emissions would increase by around 5% by 2030. This is clearly not sustainable.

The European Parliament on 4th February 2009, by a large majority, adopted detailed recommendations for a future integrated policy on climate change, calling on the EU to commit to more ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets and make energy-saving targets legally binding. According to the MEPs, the EU and other industrialised countries should set a collective target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25-40% until 2020, and by at least 80% by 2050, from 1990 levels.
The EU aims at addressing the unsustainable development in emissions from the transport sector in several ways:

• Accelerating the use of fuel efficient vehicles for transport via tougher CO2 demands;
• Increased used of renewable fuels and energy within the transportation sector;
• Making better use of public transport;
• Ensuring that the true costs of transports are transferred to the consumers

Cars account for roughly 20% of total European CO2 emissions. The car industry will not reach the voluntary 140 g/km CO2 emission target set for 2012 which was agreed in 1998.

The EU on 17th December 2008 decided on a new reduced CO2 emission target of 120 g/km for passenger cars (a mandatory 130 g/km for tailpipe emissions, and 10 g/km via other measures), which will be phased in over the period 2012-2015, and a new target of 95 g/km (review by 2013) from 2020.

Each EU Member State shall ensure that the share of energy from renewable sources in all forms of transport in 2020 is at least 10 % of final consumption of energy in transport in that Member State. The ambition concerning a 10 % reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions include 6 % via biofuels, 2 % via eco-innovations, and 2 % via CDM credits for reduced flaring not linked to EU oil consumption.

The new policies concerning reduced greenhouse gas emissions will support the NGV industry in three ways – increased use of NGVs due to the lower tailpipe CO2 emissions which follow when using natural gas or biomethane as a fuel, the possibility to use biomethane in order to meet the biofuel targets and the possibilities for special support of renewable biomethane produced from waste resources.

The new European policies thus favour NGVs and encourage NGVA Europe to carry on promoting the European use of NG/biomethane as a vehicle fuel.

Fore more details please refer to:

• http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/transport/co2/co2_home.htm
• http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2008-0614+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN#top