AUTHORS: Jana Poláková – David Baldock – Bettina Kretschmer

A draft version of the proposal by the European Commission for a Directive on the indirect land use change (ILUC) from biofuels was leaked to the public in mid-September 2012. Both the Renewable Energy Directive and the Fuel Quality Directive would be amended, the latter to include ‘ILUC factors’. According to the draft, currently in inter-service consultation but expected to be officially adopted on 17 October 2012, the share of biofuels from food crops in the target for energy consumption in the transport sector by 2020 will be limited to 5 per cent. As a consequence, the use of non-food materials for biofuels would rise at the expense of biofuels produced from food crops.