Biofuels on the Dutch market - BirdLife International

2 Policy context and sustainability
issues of the Dutch biofuel
market
2.1 Introduction
<strong>Biofuels</strong> consumption in the Netherlands is mostly driven by European policy
and the implementation at the national level. Section 2.2 in this chapter
describes the relevant directives at the European level. The Dutch policy
context, which is strongly related to the European policy, is discussed in
Section 2.3.
2.2 Biofuel policy European level
Since 2009, two Directives, the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and the Fuel
Quality Directive (FQD), affect the type of energy used in the transport sector.
The RED sets a 10% target for the share of renewable energy in the transport
sector for the year 2020. The FQD obliges fuel suppliers to reduce the average
GHG intensity of the fuels sold on the market with 6% by 2020 compared to the
baseline year 2010 (EC, 2009a; EC, 2009b).
It is expected that the targets of both Directives will be mostly fulfilled with
the use of biofuels due to a lack of other alternatives to ‘green’ the transport
sector. In order to ensure the sustainability of the biofuels, sustainability
criteria are included in both the RED and FQD. These directives determine to
a large extent which types of biofuels and biofuel quantities are consumed on
the European market. Both Directives and the earlier Biofuel Directive are
discussed in more detail in the following.
2.2.1 Biofuel Directive
Before the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), the consumption of biofuels has
been stimulated by the Biofuel Directive of 2003. The reasons for the European
Commission to initiate this Directive were threefold:
support for the agricultural sector;
improving energy security supplies;
greenhouse gas emission reductions.
This Directive prescribed Member States to set indicative targets for biofuels:
a share of 2% biofuels should have been reached in 2005 and a share of 5.75%
in 2010. These shares (based on energy content) were however not mandatory.
(Agentschap NL, 2011; EC, 2003) Many Member States have implemented
national targets in line with this Directive in order to ensure market growth.
However, in the next years the sustainability of biofuels was often questioned.
While biofuels should contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emission
reduction, NGOs and research institutes published reports describing the
negative environmental impacts as a result of biofuel production. Concerns
were raised regarding rising food prices, negative impacts on biodiversity and
GHG emissions caused by crop cultivation and land use changes as
consequences of biofuel production. Due to these concerns, organisations
asked for the inclusion of sustainability criteria in European legislation.
11 February 2013 4.786.1 - <strong>Biofuels</strong> on the Dutch market