Towards the revision of the EU biofuels directive what future for european biodiesel markets

Abstract

The European Commission issued its first “Communication on alternative fuels for road transportation and on a set of measures to promote the use of biofuels” in November 2001 [1]. As from its beginnings the EU biofuels strategy was conceived as a visionary policy, based on the assumption that biofuels promotion was needed at least for three main reasons: contribute to the security and independence of energy supply, reduce GHG (Greenhouse emissions Gaz) and CO2 emissions from the transport sector, create an additional outlet for EU agricultural production thus encouraging rural development. Since then facts have confirmed that the EU biofuels strategy was indeed a visionary policy, conceived at an early stage to tackle problems whose solution has become more and more urgent across the last years.