European Court of Auditors says biofuels path is “unclear and fraught with pitfalls”

In Belgium, the road ahead for biofuels is unclear and fraught with pitfalls, warns a report published Wednesday by the European Court of Auditors. The lack of a long-term perspective has affected investment security, while sustainability issues, the race for biomass, and high costs constrain the deployment of biofuels.

Biofuels are considered as an alternative to fossil fuels, the aim being to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector and improve the EU’s security of supply. For the 2014-2020 period, around €430 million in EU funding was allocated to research projects and the promotion of biofuels. But moving from initial laboratory research to the production phase can take at least a decade. On top of that, EU biofuels policy, legislation and priorities have often shifted, making the sector less attractive and impacting investors’ decisions.

The absence of a clear roadmap is an issue the EU auditors particularly highlight. Take, for example, aviation. The sector is difficult to electrify, and so advanced biofuels could be a good option for decarbonisation. The new ReFuelEU Aviation legislation adopted in 2023 set the required level of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) – including biofuels – for 2030 at 6 %, or about 2.76 million tonnes of oil equivalent. But at present, potential production capacity in the EU hardly reaches a tenth of that amount. And there is still no EU-level roadmap on how to speed up production, unlike in the US. The future of biofuels in road transport is also very much unclear. The heavy bet on electric cars, combined with the planned end of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035, could mean that biofuels have no large-scale future in road transport in the EU.

The EU auditors also point to three main issues that biofuels are facing on the ground: sustainability, biomass availability, and cost.