Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia sign a declaration to support decarbonisation of transport using locally produced clean biofuels
Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.
The Ministers of Agriculture of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia have signed a joint
declaration on the Renewable Energy Directive post 2020 (12/4/2019) expressing
their support for the initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
increase renewable energy share in the transport mix, in which farmers are
directly involved.
Such statement clearly supports the decarbonisation
of transport using locally produced clean biofuels that boost rural areas and
farmers. The promotion of the use of biofuels produced under strict rules of
sustainability from domestic sources is the pillar of the declaration.
I quote literally some interesting insights of
the statement:
- We believe that the
targets under RED II shall be achieved primarily by the local sourced production
ensuring energy security and preservation of jobs and agricultural activities
in the EU.
- We highlight the
necessity to reach a regional agreement on the crucial aspects of the implementation
of RED II, to achieve market stabilization, sustainability and further
development of agricultural production.
- We agree to take all
necessary steps to establish the contribution of the biofuels of EU
agricultural origin (produced from food and feed crops) to the targets set by
RED II at the maximum level of 7% at national levels.
- We support all
activities leading to use of EU-origin agricultural non-food products and
agricultural residues as feedstocks and forest biomass for the production of
biofuels, in particular advanced biofuels, as well as to use of domestically
collected used cooking oil.
- We
believe that introduction of E10 as the common and only bioethanol blending
standard in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia shall be realized not
later than 2020 ensuring effective achievement of energy and climate targets
and keep the option of the utilisation of conventional biofuels at 7% as it is
outlined in RED II.