The role of biofuels in the transition toward sustainable transport system

Abstract

Currently the transport sector accounts for a quarter of total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. According to the European Green Deal, it will be necessary to make significant changes in the transport sector to be able to reach climate neutrality by 2050. Although, currently major focus is put on the electrification of mobility, there are still significant challenges related to the broader use of battery electric vehicles. At least in the next decade biofuels should play an important role in the realisation of the European decarbonisation targets. However, over the last decade, with the increasing use of biofuels some challenges, such as sustainability of biofuels or competitions with food production have become more evident. As a consequence, the policy framework was changeable over time leading to the lower of investments in biofuels worldwide, especially in the first-generation biofuels. The major goal of this work is to analyse and discuss the development of the biofuels use over the last years as well as to investigate impact of the COVID-crisis and Ukraine-war on the policy framework. Of special interest is to identify major differences between countries and to identify positive examples and derive lessons learned. The future prospects of biofuels are very dependent on three issues: (i) the development of their economic and (ii) environmental performances, especially CO2 emissions, as well as (iii) policy support, e.g. subsidies and quotes. Due to the current crisis, of special interest is the potential competition between fuel and food production. Many countries have already prepared proposals for the reduction of the blending mandates. A major conclusion is that the time of political promotion of biofuels is widely over, especially due to the current crisis and announced ban on intern combustion engine vehicles and there are no bright prospects for biofuels are on the horizon.