Alarik Sandrup, Director Public and Regulatory Affairs at Sweden-headed agricultural cooperative Lantmännen, has been elected Vice-President of the European Renewable Ethanol Association (ePURE).
Sandrup was elected during ePURE’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on June 20 in Brussels, Belgium. Lantmännen has for many years been involved in EU policy and regulatory framework for bioenergy and biofuels since the decisions in Brussels greatly affects the conditions for the 25 000 plus farmers that own the agricultural cooperative as well as operations with the Lantmännen Group such as its biofuels production unit Lantmännen Agroetanol.
EU decisions on bioenergy and biofuels are very important for Lantmännen Agroetanol and we, therefore, place a lot of time to monitor and influence policy and decision-making in Brussels. ePURE is crucial for us in this work and it is gratifying that Lantmännen is now given even greater opportunity to influence with my new role within the organization, said Alarik Sandrup.
Lantmännen was a founding member of ePURE and has been represented on the Board ever since. According to Lantmännen, ePURE is one of Lantmännen’s “most important” advocacy partners in the EU and the association has been “decisive” for the positive decision on the EU Renewable Directive (RED).
Unfortunately, the debate in the EU has been stuck in something of a trench war between renewable electricity and biofuels for road transport. Given that 95 percent of the energy for transport in the EU and 80 percent in Sweden is still fossil fuels, greater focus should be on fossil fuels instead of trying to combat other sustainable solutions, remarked Sandrup, alluding to the Politico conference and panel debate, organized by ePURE in conjunction with its AGM.
