France-headed advanced biofuels and biochemical process developer Global Bioenergies welcomes the recent French National Assembly vote for the country’s 2019 finance bill, which stipulates an increase in the minimum amount of biofuels to be incorporated into motor vehicle fuel. France’s roadmap provides for an incorporation rate of 15 percent by 2030, giving priority to local feedstocks.
In December 2918, the French National Assembly passed the 2019 finance bill, which stipulates an increase in the proportion of biofuels in road transport. The minimum incorporation rate of biofuels, which 2018 was 7.5 percent in energy density (corresponding to around 10 percent in ethanol volume in gasoline), increases to 7.9 percent in 2019 and 8.2 percent in 2020.
The bill includes heavy incentives to encourage distributors to effectively incorporate the legal minimum amount of biofuels. According to Global Bioenergies, biofuel players will thus be able to continue building plants and creating jobs in rural environments while reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation.
This ambitious, sustainable progression will enable a continual increase in the consumption of biofuels in France. Over the course of this ramp-up, when the time comes, distributors will incorporate increasing volumes of high-performance biofuels blendable at a high proportion into gasoline, such as those produced by Global Bioenergies, said Bernard Chaud, Head of Industrial Strategy at Global Bioenergies.
Lawmakers also give priority to local feedstock used to manufacture these biofuels. Additional provisions have been adopted in support of biofuels that come from residual or lignocellulosic matter; a specific segment that will represent 0.2 points in 2019 and then 0.4 points in 2020 is reserved for non-extractible sugars.
France has chosen the incorporation of sustainable biofuels as one of the main ways to accomplish its energy and environmental transition. Other European countries are adopting the same approach, in some cases even more intensively: for example, Finland is promising an incorporation rate of 40 percent in 2030, and Norway has decided to implement the first worldwide mandate of biofuel incorporation into jet fuel, in an amount of 0.5 percent in 2020. Our technology for producing renewable and sustainable hydrocarbons for the road and air transport sectors will be needed to continue this transition at the sustained pace environed in Europe, said Marc Delcourt, CEO of Global Bioenergies.
