Dear EBTP Stakeholder,

On 17 October 2012, the EC finally published its long expected proposal to review the Renewable Energy Directive and the Fuel Quality Directive (COM (2012() 595) to take into account indirect land use change of biofuels. Key provisions include:

• anticipating an increase in the minimum GHG saving threshold for new installations to 60%;
• reporting of ILUC emissions in the Member States and fuel distributors’ obligation;
• limiting to 5% the contribution of biofuels from “food crops” to the RED target;
• further support of advanced biofuels produced from feedstocks, such as wastes, straw and algae.

The changes outlined in this radical EC proposal will have a major commercial impact on European biofuel stakeholders, and brings into sharp focus the urgent need for a framework of robust support measures to accelerate the deployment of advanced biofuels technologies. In the summer of 2011, EBTP developed a Policy toolkit to improve the support mechanisms for advanced biofuels covering demand, supply and investment, and issues relating to double counting mechanisms. This called for strong support measures at the Member State and EC level, which can help to stimulate the European bioeconomy, create thousands of new jobs across Europe, reduce GHG emissions, and close the gap now created in the EU's sustainable transport ambitions for 2020 and beyond. Infrastructures for alternative transport technologies are in their infancy, so a healthy sustainable biofuels industry remains vital to ensure the EC improves fuel security and reduces GHG emissions and reliance on increasingly expensive imports of fossil fuels for road, aviation, military, marine and rail end use.

Even with a favourable support framework, constructing a network of advanced biofuels facilities at commercial scale will require close integration across the value chains identified in the European Industrial Biofuels Initiative. On 6-7 February 2013 the EBTP will bring together a range of biofuels expertise at the 5th Stakeholder Plenary Meeting in Brussels to address the many challenges facing advanced biofuels deployment in Europe, and examine lessons to be learned from support measures being introduced globally.

SPM5 will also offer an opportunity to help shape longer-term R&D priorities and contribute to the update of the Strategic Research Agenda for European biofuels. The speaker programme is now being finalised, and a message will be sent to all EBTP stakeholders with details of venue and online registration. Please mark the date in your diary. We look forward to meeting you at this important forum at a critical moment for European biofuels and the wider bioeconomy.

European Biofuels Technology Platform

The EBTP continues to help shape the European Industrial Bioenergy Initiative in close collaboration with the European Commission and Member States.

The current Implementation plan of the EIBI covered 2010-2012. A proposal for an update to the implementation plan for 2013-2015 will be drafted by the internal EIBI team of the EBTP, which consists of Henrik Erämetsä, Markku Karlsson, Véronique Hervouet, Anders Lau Tuxen, Ingvar Landälv, Pierre Porot and Kai Sipilä, and Margarita de Gregorio (representing BIOPLAT). The team will review the goal of 4% advanced biofuels by 2020, which was originally stated in the Implementation Plan in 2010, and work on cost estimates for achieving this or a revised percentage. However, it is recognised that achieving even a modest number of advanced biofuels facilities in the next 8 years will require the rapid introduction of stable support measures to boost investment in demonstration and flagship plants.

The draft implementation plan proposals will then be approved by the wider SET Plan EIBI team, which includes representitives of the EC and Member States.

A second EIBI conference is planned for 2013. Further details will be forwarded to EBTP stakeholders once a date and programme have been developed. EIBI implementation across the values chains will also be an iimportant topic at the 5th EBTP Stakeholder Plenary Meeting in February 2013.

The 5th Stakeholder Plenary Meeting will take place at the Diamant Conference Centre, Brussels, on February 6th-7th 2013. The meeting will start around midday on the 6th and conclude in the early afternoon on the 7th, with the aim of maximising opportunities for networking and discussion. Topics to be covered include:

• The need for long-term stable policy support for advanced biofuels deployment;
• Incentives/frameworks for biofuels outside of Europe – lessons to be learned;
• Funding of advanced biofuel projects – update on NER300, Era-Net+ BESTF, other sources of finance;
• Updates on European and global demonstrations of sustainable advanced biofuels technologies.

An initial programme and details of how to register will be circulated to all EBTP stakeholders and contacts in the next few days.

EC Public Consultation on Biobased Industries PPP

On 21 September the EC launched a public consultation Bio-based industries, towards a public-private partnership under Horizon 2020. The survey seeks input on the creation of a public-private partnership to promote research and innovation under Horizon 2020, the next EU Research Framework Programme, and is open until 14 December 2012.

It will also serve to collect views and opinions on the current state-of-play of the full bio-based industries value chains in Europe and their potential. All those directly or indirectly connected with the bio-based industries, including representatives of public authorities, farmers and foresters, businesses and associations, academics and technical experts, civil society organisations and individual citizens are encouraged to complete the questionnaire online. A report on the outcome of the consultation will be published after its completion.

Public consultation on the European Investment Bank's EIB Energy Sector Lending Policy

The EIB’s Energy Sector Lending Policy is based on relevant EU sector policies and translates these into lending objectives and project screening criteria for Bank financing. In October 2012 the EIB launched a public consultation on the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) Energy Sector Lending Policy. Additional information about this public consultation, including background material about the scope of the review, can be found on the EIB website.

Stakeholders are invited to participate to this public consultation by submitting a written contribution by 31st December 2012 and attending the public consultation meeting. This will take place on Friday 7th December 2012 in Brussels, from 9.30 to 12.30. The venue will be the Bibliothèque Solvay, Leopoldpark, 137 rue Belliard, Brussels,

Should you wish to participate at this meeting, you are invited to return the registration form that is available online before 30th November 2012.

Welcome to new EBTP Steering Commitee member

The 27th Steering Committee meeting of the EBTP was held on October 16th in Brussels. The EBTP is pleased to announce the appointment of a new Steering Committee member, Björn Usadel, Director at the IBG2 Plant Sciences, Research Centre Jülich and Professor at RWTH Aachen. The EBTP thanks outgoing SC member Ulrich Schurr for his work for the platform over a number of years.

Update on EBTP Working Groups

Working Group 1 (Biomass) has set-up a Joint Task Force with the Renewable Heating and Cooling Technology Platform. The JTF will take into account the different demands for biomass of a variety of end users and plans to involve EERA. The JTF aims to develop joint recommendations regarding optimised biomass use across European bioenergy sectors.

In addition to continued support to EIBI activities, Working Group 2 (Conversion) is preparing an EBTP internal workshop on Bio-CCS to be held in January 2013. The one day workshop will address the 4 to 5 most critical aspects of Bio-CCS. Based on the outcome of the workshop, recommendations and a work plan for the Joint Task Force on Bio-CCs will be developed.

Working Group 4 and 5 have been successfully merged into one Working Group, now provisionally named Working Group 4 (Policy and Sustainability). In a first phone conference on October 24th, two key topics for WG4 were initiated:

• Developing a position on the newly published RED and FQD amendment proposals and especially the iLUC measures;
  
• What kind of frameworks and policies are needed beyond 2020?

The Algae Task Force has developed a short questionnaire for European algae umbrella organisations on their activities, interest in collaboration and research agendas. The aim is to increase networking among stakeholders and to cross-check research agendas to define common research highlights which will then be included in the Research Priority Documents.

10 September 2012 – Biobased for Growth, Brussels
Markku Karlsson (SC) represented EBTP

20 September 2012 – CEI Ministerial Conference “Renewable Energy in a Biobased Economy: The option of Next Generation Biofuels”, Trieste
Lars Christian Hansen (SC) represented EBTP

1 October 2012 – Workshop on the future of European Technology Platforms, Brussels
Sandrine Dixson-Declève (SC) and Emmanuel Desplechin represented EBTP

16 October 2012 – 27th Steering Committee Meeting of the EBTP, Brussels

23-25 October 2012 – 4th Nordic Wood Biorefinery Conference, Helsinki Markku Karlsson (SC) represented the EBTP with a presentation on “European Strategic Energy Technology Plan – instruments and impact on the European Forestry Sector”

Links and details for the following biofuels and bioenergy events are included on the events page of the EBTP website. Please check regularly as new events are added each week. Selected events for late Winter 2012 and Spring 2013 are listed below.

13-15 November 2012 - IEA Bioenergy Annual Conference 2012
Vienna, Austria

19-20 November 2012 - Biofuels for Sustainable Development of Southern Europe (Bio4SuD)
Thessaloniki, Greece

20-22 November 2012 - European Electric Vehicle Congress 2012
Brussels, Belgium

21-22 November 2012 - Future World of Biogas: Europe 2012 / Gasification 2012
London, United Kingdom

21-22 November 2012 - Biofuels International 2012
Antwerp, Belgium

26-27 November 2012 - BBF (Bioenergy Business Forum) Ukraine 2012
Kiev, Ukraine

27-29 November 2012 - 2012 National Advanced Biofuels Conference & Expo
Houston, USA

28-29 November 2012 - Bioenergy Commodity Trading 2012
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

29 November 2012 - The European Conference on Future Transport Fuels 2012: Towards a long-term strategy to decarbonise the transport sector
Brussels, Belgium

4-5 December 2012 - European Advanced Biofuels Congress
Brussels, Belgium

21-22 January 2013 - Fuels of the Future 2013 - 10th International Conference on Biofuels
Berlin, Germany

6-7 February 2013 - 5th Stakeholder Plenary Meeting of the European Biofuels Technology Platform (SPM5)
Brussels, Belgium

12-14 March 2012 - World Biofuels Markets Congress & Exhibition
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

3-5 April 2012 - 3rd International Conference on Lignocellulosic Ethanol
Madrid, Spain

24-25 April 2012 - European Algae Biomass 2013
Vienna, Austria

Links to a number of new biofuels reports have been added to the EBTP Reports Database in recent weeks. Links to biofuels presentations are also included on relevant pages of the EBTP website. Examples include:

Biomass/feedstocks

Mobilising Cereal Straw in the EU to Feed Advanced Biofuel Production
Institute for European Environmental Policy IEEP (Report produced for Novozymes)

Smart Use of Residues - Exploring the factors affecting the sustainable extraction rate of agricultural residues for advanced biofuels
WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature (with support from Novozymes and EU)

Grandfathering Options Under an EU ILUC Policy
Ecofys

End Use

Fuel and Technology Alternatives for Buses - Overall Energy Efficiency and Emission Performance
Nils-Olof Nylund & Kati Koponen. VTT Technology 46

The Potential Role of Biofuels in Commercial Air Transport - BioJetFuel
IEA Bioenergy Task 40

Biofuel potential for shipping
Ecofys 'by order of' the European Maritime Safety Agency

Policy & Sustainability

Presentations from the CEI Ministerial Conference - Renewable Energy in a Bio-based Economy: The Option of Next Generation Biofuels
Central European Initiative

Presentations from IPIECA/CONCAWE Workshop on Sustainable biofuels regulations, standards and certification
IPIECA and CONCAWE

Nach Super E10: Welche Rolle fur Biokraftstoffe? Fakten, Trends und Perspektiven - In German with summary in English
Uwe R. Fritsche, IINAS, Susanne Koppen, IFEU on behalf of Shell

ExCo67 workshop: Future biomass-based transport fuels - summary and conclusions
IEA Bioenergy

Biobased for Growth - a public-private partnership on biobased industries - Draft Vision document
CEPI

German Roadmap Biorefineries 2012
German Federal Government

EurObserv'ER Biofuels Barometer 2012 - Biofuels in the European Union
EurObserv'ER

Life Cycle Analysis of Transportation Fuel Pathways
IEA Advanced Motor Fuels Annex 40 - prepared by Reilly-Roe and Associates Ltd and (S&T)2 Consultants Inc

Bioenergy - Chances and Limits
German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

GAIN report on biofuels in the EU 2012
Bob Flach, Karin Bendz and Sabine Lieberz, USDA

Global biofuels

GAIN - Brazil Biofuels Annual Report 2012
Agricultural Trade Office, Sao Paulo, USDA