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The European Commission has approved seven schemes set up to ensure that biofuels used in the EU are produced in an environmentally sustainable way.
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Biofuel
companies can either seek certification from one of these schemes or from a
similar national scheme.
Biofuels
are part of the EU strategy to cut CO2 emissions.
But the
crops are controversial. In some countries they have replaced forests, harming
biodiversity. They are also seen as rivals to food crops.
The
Commission's new approved schemes are aimed at addressing such concerns and
promoting use of biofuels in a sustainable, regulated way.
Each scheme
will verify where and how biofuels are produced. Biofuels grown on land that
used to be forest or wetland will not qualify.
The EU
Energy Commissioner, Guenther Oettinger, said the sometimes damaging
side-effects of biofuel production were "a real concern... particularly in
the big producing countries, south-east Asia and in South America".
"This
is an evolution which we cannot accept," Reuters news agency quoted him as
saying.
Companies
importing or producing biofuels wll be required to prove that they meet the
EU's strict criteria.
The new
schemes include ISCC, funded by the German government, which covers all types
of biofuels, and two specialising in sugarcane biofuels produced in Brazil -
Greenenergy and Bonsucro.
To get
approval biofuels will have to emit at least 35% less greenhouse gases than
fossil fuels such as petrol, the Commission says. That percentage will rise in
the next few years.
The EU
wants renewable energy - including biofuel - to have at least a 10% share of
transport fuel by 2020.
Commission
data shows that in 2007 about 26% of biodiesel and 31% of bioethanol used in
the EU was imported. Most of the imports came from Brazil and the US.
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