Biofuels – Clean, Green, or neither?
Amid the official rhetoric on climate change and how we might prevent it, Biofuels have featured prominently. Indeed, substantial investment has already been made in the sector, and most of us are already using them without necessarily realising it.
But the Biofuels boom has slowed down of late because of concerns about whether Biofuels are genuinely ‘sustainable’. And like most renewables, they struggle to compete on a level economic playing field with fossil fuels, being dependent on subsidy of one form or another.
With the EU having fairly limited powers on energy matters, the applicable laws are disparate and encompass environmental, agricultural and fiscal measures. Waste law also has an important role.
If the Biofuels industry can overcome the current obstacles, it offers huge promise for the EU’s looming domestic energy crisis, and is therefore of interest to a wide spectrum of industry including the Aviation, Agriculture, Automotive, Chemicals, Waste, Oil & Gas, and Transport & Distribution sectors, as well as potential investors and venture capitalists.
Semple Fraser’s environment team have been heavily involved recently in relation to waste-derived fuels (the OSS v Environment Agency case) and also on assignments for the European Commission in relation to fuel quality.
We therefore thought it would be useful to produce a Biofuels Briefing that considers both sides of the environmental debate, as well as the various legal drivers.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACCT: VINCENT BROWN
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