In its continued effort to tackle biofuels fraud, the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) has published an elaborate and ambitious proposal revising the rules on sustainable biofuels verification. The trade association, representing EU producers of HVO and FAME from all feedstocks, is suggesting changes to make the verification system more robust and ensure a level-playing field with economic operators outside the EU.
The surge of imports from South-East Asia from 2022 onwards, leading to the collapse of the EU market, has raised serious concerns in the industry on the compliance of some imports with the criteria of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). These suspicions are sustained by the abnormal increase in both biodiesel production and waste feedstocks availability. Ever since EBB became vocal on the issue, more and more stakeholders have joined the call for action. Members States at the Energy Council meeting on the 30th of May 2024 called on the Commission to develop “strong corrective actions to prevent the entry of fraudulent biofuels on the European market“. A leading environmental NGO in the field of transport jumped on the bandwagon requesting action, and Indonesia and Malaysia are taking measures to prevent tax fraud with exported palm oil waste feedstocks.
Re-evaluating the rules
The European Commission is now re-evaluating the set of verification rules that govern biofuels in the EU market. The 30-page EBB document, that was made public today, includes detailed amendments to EU rules that can be implemented immediately.
Notably, the document stresses that rules that apply to domestic producers, should be enforced just as strictly outside of the EU, for biofuels used on the EU market. For example, on-site audits should be systematic in production facilities outside the EU, as is already the case in Europe.
The paper also proposes, as a pre-condition for biofuels to count towards the RED target, that Member States authorise, for every producer, the quantities, capacities and feedstock-use of biofuels produced from raw materials listed in Annex IX , as is already the case in some countries.
Building up on the Union Database for Biofuels (UDB), the association suggests including additional information and documents, allowing better verification. The paper also insists on tougher sanctions on non-compliance, and that the withdrawal of certificates in case of non-compliance should have retroactive effects, making sure that only truly sustainable biofuels contribute to the RED objectives.
Secretary General of the European Biodiesel Board, Xavier Noyon, said: “We are aware that the ambitious reform we are proposing will require more effort and more resources, from the EBB members, the industry at large, the verification schemes, the Member States and the Commission, but it is the price to pay. Fraud is an existential threat for our industry, for the functioning of RED verification and for the EU climate ambitions.”
