How biofuels are used in the EU – UABIO review

Semen Drakhnev, an expert of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine, prepared a detailed and comprehensive overview of the state of production and consumption of biofuels for transport in the EU for the SAF platform.

The review is based on a report by the US Department of Agriculture.

In particular, the material states that in 2023, bioethanol consumption in the EU increased by 4.5% to 6.58 billion litres, while biomass-based diesel (BBD) consumption increased by 0.6% to 17.98 billion litres. The expansion of bioethanol use was mainly driven by the growth of the petrol fuel pool, while the increase in BBD was entirely due to blending.

According to the results of 2024, further growth in the use of bioethanol is forecast. The use of BBD, on the other hand, will decline due to lower national greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction mandates and the use of BBD types with higher GHG emission reduction rates.

Around a third of the EU’s domestic BBD volume is produced from used oils and fats.

It is forecasted that this year’s continued growth in demand will support imports of bioethanol to the EU. At the same time, BBD imports will be limited by new tracking and reporting rules.

With regard to the EU bioenergy policy, it is noted that the European Commission (EC) has adopted a number of legislative proposals that will affect the use of biofuels in the road, aviation and maritime transport sectors in the medium and long term. In particular, Member States can choose between a target of reducing GHG intensity by 14.5% by 2030 (compared to 1990) or ensuring a share of at least 29% of renewable energy in final energy consumption by the same year 2030.

For more information on the use of biofuels in Europe, please follow the link.