EU Biofuels Policy — An Introduction and Overview

Abstract

In this chapter we review the development of EU biofuels policy. We shall see clear evidence of all three of the main biofuels policy drivers at work, but with the environmental-climate change driver having a bigger role in the genesis of current EU policy than is the case with US policy. Moreover, as demonstrated in Chapter 2, whilst the environmental dimension is now a central aspect of policy in Brazil, it was not always so. As with Brazilian and US policy, clear distinctions must be drawn between supply and demand of biofuels, and between ethanol and biodiesel. In the EU, however, an additional dimension to incorporate is that between the member states and the (supranational) EU. As will be seen, policy was initially under national jurisdiction, with common EU policies emerging only relatively recently, yet rapidly. Nevertheless, with many elements of policy enacted by Directive rather than Regulation, there still remains considerable national variation in implementation, as elaborated on below.