In the development and setting-up of an efficient and powerful bioethanol industry, CropEnergies is profiting from internal EU policies. Their aim is to increase long-term security of supply by tapping domestic energy sources, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to further the development of a new sector of industry.

The EU created the political framework for the establishment of a bioethanol industry in the year 2003. To promote the use of biofuels in the transport sector, the EU issued the Biofuel Directive and the Energy Tax Directive. The EU has adjusted this framework again.

Renewable Energies Directive (2009/28/EG) (PDF, 1.28 MB) This declares that the proportion of renewable energies is to be increased to a mandatory 20% in the EU by the year 2020. In the transport sector, the proportion of renewable energies is to rise to 10% of total fuel consumption over the same period. This mandatory target blending rate applies not only to biofuels but to all renewable energies used in the transport sector, including electric power and hydrogen produced from renewable sources for instance. The Renewable Energies Directive contains rules on the sustainable production of biofuels as the precondition for official support and for recognition under the EU biofuel targets. With the introduction of sustainability criteria the EU is also ensuring that in future only sustainably produced biofuels are used in the transport sector. It is required that biofuels reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 35 wt.-%, and from 2017 by as much as 50 wt.-%, compared to fossil fuels. New biofuel plants constructed after 2017 must achieve greenhouse gas reductions of 60 wt.-%. Besides meeting the minimum level for greenhouse gas reductions, biofuels are also required to satisfy other environmental and social standards. Biofuel Directive (2003/30/EC) (PDF, 119.2 KB) This declares that the member states are to ensure that the proportion of biofuels in vehicle fuel consumption in the EU - measured in terms of energy content - reaches 5.75% by the year 2010. Energy Tax Directive (2003/96/EC) (PDF, 193.07 KB) This enables the member states to exempt biofuels from mineral oil or energy taxes by up to 100%.

Since January 1, 2007 the so-called Biofuel Quota Act has set minimum quotas for biodiesel and bioethanol in conventional motor fuel based in each case on energy content. Penalties are levied on the fuel company if it fails to meet these minimum blending rates.
As from January 1, 2009 petrol is required to contain 2.8% bioethanol. In addition, the law prescribes total biofuel quotas for 2009 and 2010 of 5.25% and 6.25%, respectively. As from 2015, the biofuel quotas are no longer calculated on the basis of calorific value but on the basis of greenhouse gas reduction instead.

On November 2, 2009, the Biofuel Sustainability Regulation (Biokraft-NachV) came into force. According to the ordinance, liquefied and gaseous fuels made of biomass are only promoted if they comply with certain sustainability criteria. As from January 1, 2011, all companies producing biofuels have to prove during a certification process that their production is sustainable.

Owing to the high potential of biofuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by significantly more than the prescribed 35%, the German biofuels industry is requesting the introduction of a "combined quota" in a joint memorandum. This combined quota joines rising blending targets with increasing greenhouse gas reduction quotas. Otherwise, the blending target of 10% for the transport sector in 2020 set by the "Renewable Energies Directive" cannot be achieved..

As a result of the Biofuel Quota Act bioethanol consumption in Germany increased significantly in the last year. This helped to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector and to improve energy supplies. Bioethanol consumption in Germany was.47 million m³ in 2010. This represents a saving of approx. 1 billion litres of petrol.

The Fuel of the Future
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