Germany suggests phase out of crop biofuels by 2030

Germany suggests phase out of crop biofuels by 2030

London, 17 May (Argus) — Germany's environment ministry is working on a proposal to phase out the use of biofuels produced from food and feed crops by 2030.

This comes at a time of rising food costs and waning supply of agricultural products caused by disruption of exports from main suppliers Ukraine and Russia.

A working paper released by the ministry suggests lowering the use of crop-based biofuels to comply with Germany's greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction quota to 2.5pc in 2023, from 4.4pc this year. The cap would then fall to 2.3pc in 2024, to 2.1pc in 2025, to 1.9pc in 2026-27, to 1.2pc in 2028-29 and then to zero the following year.

To compensate, the working paper suggests increasing the multiplier for electricity used to charge e-cars to four, from three currently, and the multiplier for the use of green hydrogen and PtX-fuels to three, from two. The cap for waste-based biodiesel produced from used cooking oils (Uco) and animal fats could be slightly lifted, but no numbers were given. It also proposes extending the use of upstream emission reduction (UER) projects to 2028, from the current phase-out date of after 2026.

The country's GHG quota would need a slight downward adjustment