Transport & Environment, the Europe’s clean transport campaign group, highlighted that the heavy reliance on biofuels instead of electrofuels for planes and ships risks an ecological disaster similar to the bloc’s last biofuels misadventure.
On the occasion of EU’s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, which sets the course for aviation and shipping out of the Covid crisis without fossil fuels. Transport & Environment (T&E) welcomed this plan, highlighting that risks rerun of biofuels fiasco.
”On road transport, the strategy is a major step towards the electrification of cars and trucks although the EU executive continues to duck the question of when the last combustion-engine cars will be sold in Europe.” T&E stated.
T&E said the reliance on biofuels is at odds with the Commission’s hydrogen strategy as well as its ambition to halt deforestation. A recent study found that Europe can scale up e-fuels production to power all of its planes and ships by 2050.
By 2030 the Commission wants planes and ships to start using alternative fuels. But it says the bulk of this will come from biofuels and only a little from from fuels based on hydrogen, such as ammonia or e-kerosene.
Biofuels are not the solution, said William Todts, executive director at T&E, reminding that Europe’s last biofuels adventure was a fiasco causing deforestation worldwide.
”We now have a great alternative in renewable hydrogen fuels which aren’t just cleaner, but also represent a big industrial opportunity.” he commented
There will be at least 30 million electric vehicles on Europe’s roads by the end of the decade, under the strategy. T&E estimates that this is in line with the Commission’s plan to increase the 2030 CO2 reduction target for carmakers to 50%.
For the first time the Commission also committed to taking action on corporate fleet decarbonisation, which could result in new rules to accelerate the electrification of company cars and urban fleets. The document also commits to revising the 2030 CO2 standards for truckmakers in 2022 to boost the offer of electric and hydrogen trucks.
The UK, California and even carmakers like Volvo have said 2035 is a good end date for polluting car sales. It’s time for Europe too to provide carmakers, consumers and citizens with clarity on the way forward, William Todts concluded
