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The EU met its 2020 renewable energy targets for the
transportation sector, recent data show, despite most of the EU 27
lagging in their contributions.
The news comes as no surprise. The European Commission (EC) expected that the bloc on
average would exceed both its 20% renewable energy and 10%
transport sub-targets for 2020 under the Renewable Energy Directive
(RED), even without the full participation of some states.
Several states went above and beyond their obligations to use
biofuel (mostly biodiesel blends) and renewable electricity, for
example in trucks, buses, and trains.
Foremost among those exceeding the 10% target was biofuel-hungry
Sweden (with about 32%), followed by Finland (with about 13%), the
Netherlands, and Luxembourg (both about 13%). Estonia and Hungary
also shot past the target.
However, 15 of the 27 EU countries did not do their part. This
included not only Germany, France, and Spain, but also Greece,
Lithuania, and Poland.
Despite the pandemic, all EU member states, with the exceptions
of France and Finland, increased their use of renewables in
transportation in 2020, data from the statistical
office of the European Union shows.
The 10% target was included in the 2009 RED that mandated EU
member states pass laws to boost renewable energy use within power
generation and transportation.
Around the same time, the Fuel Quality Directive set transport
fuel suppliers a 2020 carbon intensity reduction target of 6%
compared with from 2010 levels.
The policies together were expected to drive the uptake of
biofuels mostly sold as blends of biofuel with petrol and diesel,
according to an EU study, but also drove the use
of renewable electricity for trains.
The average share of energy from renewable sources in
transportation in the bloc was 1.6% in 2004. The share of renewable
energy used in transportation rose to 7.4% in 2017 and to 10.2% in
2020, Eurostat found.
Reaching the milestone of bloc-wide 10% biofuel and green
electricity usage in the transportation sector helps the EU to
reach its 2050 climate neutrality
objective.
In July, the EC proposed a revision of RED to raise ambitions
for biofuel use, among other things. The next phase of RED will
target 27-29% of renewables in transportation by 2030. What counts
towards the target is being extended in ways that encourage the use
of biofuels in aviation and shipping, currently outlier
markets.
However, the target in the past has driven the use of
unsustainable crop-based biofuels, such as palm oil, soy, and
rapeseed. Campaign group T&E says the target could instead be
safely met with alternatives like renewable electricity and
advanced biofuels grown from non-food crops.
T&E warned of the dangers of using unsustainable feedstocks
as biofuel targets increase, noting RED currently "lack[ed] proper
sustainability safeguards regarding bioenergy."
In line with what T&E suggested, the EU has been trying to
get states to use climate-friendly advanced biofuels since a June
2018 revision to RED, but without much success.
In RED's latest proposed advanced biofuels target, there will be
"double counting" (more or less) of biofuels used by ships and
planes, as the EU intends to increase the use of biofuels in those
sectors.
Another proposed rule targeting planes, ReFuelEU Aviation, would
oblige EU airport suppliers to offer jet fuel blended with
sustainable aviation fuel from 2025.
