The Turin Joint Statement on Sustainable Biofuels – the complete text

Turin, Italy — 28 April 2024

To Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, USA, and European Commission

We the undersigned, noting that, despite efforts to diversify energy sources, fossil fuels still meet 95% of the overall energy needs of the transport sector, which currently accounts for 26% of global final energy consumption and for 21% of CO2 emissions, with road transport being responsible for more than three-quarters of these emissions, we

– Express our full support for ambitious climate and energy policies and the need to defossilize all modes of transport as an integral part of these ambitions.

– View sustainable biofuels and related value chains among the main pillars of transport decarbonisation together with electrification, energy efficiency and other sustainable fuels.

– Recognise that during the transition the role of each technology will vary over time and vary by country, as a reflection of its own resources, national context and sustainable development priorities.

We recognize and support statements and commitments in the G7 Hiroshima Leaders’ Communiqué, 2023 G7 Climate, Energy and Environment Ministers’ Communiqué and the 2023 G7 Transport Ministers’ Communiqué to reduce GHG emissions from Aviation, Maritime and Road Transport, including:

– Aviation: We commit to accelerate global efforts to achieve the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s goal of net-zero emissions in international aviation by 2050, including making an effort for promoting and introducing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

– Maritime: We reaffirm our commitment to strengthen global efforts to achieve GHG lifecycle zero emissions from international shipping by 2050 at the latest.

– Road Transport: We reaffirm our commitment to a highly decarbonized road sector by 2030. Noting that the global vehicle stock is over 15 times more than the new sales vehicles, we recognize the critical importance of swiftly and substantially reducing GHG emissions from the global fleet. . . . We recognize the importance of assessing GHG emissions from the road sector across its entire life cycle, including raw material extraction, vehicle manufacturing, use and disposal or recycling, in order to realize a highly decarbonized road sector.

Recalling the Biofuture Platform Initiative Statement published at CEM13 in 2022, we highlight the multiple benefits of sustainable biofuels and their value chains, including:

– Increasing energy security, by diversifying energy sources, reducing fuel import dependence, and favouring domestic production.

– Ease integrating into existing logistics, storage and distribution systems and the ability of drop-in fuels to be blended with fossil fuels in any proportion without the need for engine modifications.

– Promoting a culture of circular economy, resilience, and local value creation with well-designed sustainable biofuel supply chains providing opportunities for local employment and growth.

– Supporting the transition to more sustainable agriculture, sequestering and using carbon in soil, and delivering food, feed and energy via policies that reward farmers for implementing best-practices in sustainable, climate smart carbon-neutral/-negative agriculture and forestry.

Noting that, according to the International Energy Agency, the production and use of sustainable biofuels are not currently expanding at the pace and scale to be consistent with a net zero pathway by mid-century, We the undersigned organizations ask G7 Ministers to:

– Recognise the contribution that sustainable biofuels can bring as part of systematic solutions to de-fossilize aviation, maritime and road transport, while

generating co-products in the bio- and circular-economy area, recovering wastes and utilizing residues.

– Design and implement predictable and long-term oriented policies, to facilitate the investments needed for the widespread deployment of innovative, sustainable biofuel technologies and value chains.

– Support technology-agnostic, evidence-based policies that enable GHG emissions reductions from aviation, maritime and road transport based on a full Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach.

– Empower consumers (B2B and private) to choose net-zero and circular products, based on transparent product and environmental carbon footprints, and lead the way through public procurement and private buyer initiatives endorsed by G7 governments.

– Foster innovation across the bioeconomy, to expand biomass feedstock supply through innovation in agricultural markets and value chains such as the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and crop rotations, cover-cropping, inter-cropping and multi-cropping, yield improvements and crop production on marginal and degraded lands, and to commercialize new technologies that can convert a wider range of feedstocks including agricultural and woody residues into biofuels.

– Create an environment that allows for exploring the productive synergies between biofuels, hydrogen and carbon capture usage and storage.

– Build consensus regarding the use of carbon accounting and sustainability standards in policymaking, to reduce regulatory burdens, facilitate trade and increase confidence among consumers, policymakers, and investors regarding the benefits of biofuels across different feedstocks, technology platforms, products and regions.

– Support capacity-building initiatives and knowledge-sharing platforms to facilitate technology transfer, skills development, and best practices exchange among stakeholders in the biofuels sector.

The sustainable biofuels industry represents a milestone on the path to the full development of integrated biorefineries, contributing to the progressive replacement of the current oil refinery in the production of sustainable chemicals and fuels, a sector to which industry is committed and already investing efforts and resources.

We thus commend the Italian G7 and Brazilian G20 Presidencies for putting high priority on sustainable fuels, acknowledging initiatives such as the launch of the Global Biofuel Alliance in September 2023 by the Indian Presidency of the G20. We stand ready to support the G7 and G20 in unlocking the potential of sustainable biofuels as the world aims to fulfil its COP28 aim of transitioning away from fossil fuels.