(31/01/07) Biobrandstoffen: richtlijn leidt aandacht af van uitstoot wagens

• 2007-01-31

De Europese Commissie heeft vandaag haar plannen bekendgemaakt voor een richtlijn over de brandstofkwaliteit. Daar staat tegenover dat andere geledingen van de Commissie een meer belangrijk voorstel over de CO2-uitstoot van wagens vertragen.

Wie alleen de brandstofkwaliteit in acht neemt om de emissies van wegverkeer tegen te gaan, doet hetzelfde als trachten een uitslaande brand te blussen met een waterpistool. De Commissie leidt hiermee de aandacht af van het echte probleem: de wagens die deze brandstof gebruiken. Brandstof die van planten gemaakt is, is echt geen wondermiddel tegen de klimaatproblemen.

Autoproducenten trachten onder de norm van de CO2-emissies uit te komen. Een norm waarmee ze nochtans lange tijd geleden instemden. Nu heet het dat de brandstofindustrie maar met oplossingen moet komen.

Brandstofkwaliteit kan een element zijn in de strategie tegen transportemissies, maar je mag niet zomaar olie vervangen door ethanol. Bovendien is het niet aangewezen om de brandstofnormen voor de mengeling met ethanol te verlagen.

Deze week wordt er een rapport (IPCC) voorgesteld dat zwart op wit aantoont dat het met het klimaat de verkeerde kant uitgaat. En uitgerekend nu gaat de Europese Commissie plat op de buik voor de autoindustrie.

Car emissions and fuels
Fuels directive diverts attention from the cars that guzzle the gas

The European Commission today presented its proposal for a directive on fuel quality however divisions within the Commission continue to delay the more important proposal on CO2 emissions legislation for cars. Commenting on the Commission's approach to car emissions, Green energy spokesman Claude Turmes said:
"Focusing on fuel quality alone to address emissions from road transport is like trying to quench a forest fire with a water pistol. By placing a disproportionate emphasis on fuel quality, the Commission is diverting attention from the real problem - the cars that use the fuel - and creating the illusion that fuel from plants is the panacea for our climate problems. We should be under no illusion: running an SUV - like a VW Touareg - on ethanol would be an environmental nightmare (1).

"Car manufacturers are trying to wriggle out of a target for CO2 emissions that they agreed to long ago and pass the buck on to others, like the fuel industry. The 120g/km CO2 emissions target is not some figure that has been plucked out of the air by Environment Commissioner Dimas, it has been an EU target since 1996 (2) and was agreed to by the industry. It is disingenuous to suggest that meeting this target would destroy German car manufacturers, which produce bigger cars, as the target would be spread across the industry."

Satu Hassi , vice-president of the EP ENVI committee, added: "Clearly fuel quality is one element of a coherent strategy to address transport emissions. We welcome the proposal to monitor the overall CO2 component of fuel. While some biofuels have the potential to reduce fuel emissions, simply replacing oil with ethanol without controlling its source would have disastrous consequences for the environment and global food security.

"We disagree however with the proposal of Commission to lower the fuel quality standards for gasoline blends with ethanol when it comes to vapour pressure. This gift to the European ethanol industry was not necessary and is counterproductive to the fulfilment of the EU's air pollution standards, notably for ozone.

"The continued failure to set an effective binding target for car manufacturers of 120g/km CO2 emissions by 2012 is a sad reflection of the priorities of this Commission. This week a UN report will suggest that the damages of climate change have been underestimated (3) ; it is incredible that, in the same week, the Commission is set to capitulate to the car industry on one of the key concrete proposals of an EU climate strategy."

Editors notes

(1) Scientific evidence suggests the energy-intensive process of producing ethanol (one of the main, so-called 'bio'-fuels) will not necessarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and in most cases not cost-effectively. The use of limited grains stocks to produce ethanol is also leading to massive increases in the price of grains and, as a result, other foods, leading to potential food shortages in the developing world. In addition, cultivation of plant fuels leads to soil degradation and deforestation, which also has an important negative climate impact.

(2) The 120g/km target was agreed by the Commission and Council in 1996 and was originally supposed to have been achieved by 2005! The car industry is now set to miss a much less ambitious voluntary target of 140g/km by 2008.

(3) The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will publish a report this Friday (the first in a series on climate change), which is set to make more accurate predictions for temperature rises as a result of climate change and will claim that some of the negative consequences of climate change have been underestimated.