Renewable fuels (RESfuels) will play a central role in aviation, shipping, and the heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) sector on the road where no medium-term alternatives for reducing emissions are available. However, long-term policy support is crucial to the market rollout of renewable fuels (RESfuels) to remedy transport’s reliance on fossil fuels, leading European research institutes in the ADVANCEFUEL project confirm.
Transport makes up one-quarter of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Europe and is the only major sector in the EU where emissions continue to rise. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), if the EU is to meet its goals of carbon dioxide (CO2) neutrality by 2050, transport emissions need to decrease by 90 percent.
Renewable fuels (RESfuels) will play a central role in aviation, shipping, and the heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) sector on the road where no medium-term alternatives for reducing emissions are available.
ADVANCEFUEL project
In this context, the EU Horizon 2020 project ADVANCEFUEL, coordinated by FNR in Germany, and assembling eight partners, mainly recognised research institutions and universities from around Europe, generated new knowledge, tools, and recommendations for overcoming barriers to the commercialisation of renewable transport fuels.
The results that have been produced over the past three years have been presented during the project’s final event on June 24, 2020, in the context of the EU Sustainable Energy Week.
The EU Renewable Energy Directive sets a target for the contribution of advanced biofuels to renewable transport fuel of at least 3,5 percent by 2030. Deploying RESfuels over the next decades will require a substantial amount of sustainable feedstocks.
To make this viable, all identified potentials, including innovations in land use and applied cropping schemes, need to be unlocked to be able to produce sufficient amounts of these sustainable fuels.
Greater policy and financing needed to bridge the cost gap
Additionally, the further development and integration of suitable conversion technologies need to be promoted and supported by strong and stable policy support, including financial incentives to reduce the economic risks involved in increasing this new market segment and for penalising the fossil-based fuel production routes.
Given such policies, the increased integration of the new processes into already existing fossil fuel infrastructure, the up-scaling of RESfuel production, and the increased use of side products can lead to the cost reductions required for the expansion of this industry and the successful market roll-out of these favourable fuels.
Research conducted by the ADVANCEFUEL project addresses key regulatory, economic, and environmental barriers for RESfuels and proposes evidence-based solutions to overcoming them.
While regulations could make fossil fuels the costlier option, a combination of policy instruments such as obligatory quotas with feed-in tariffs can provide a stable investment climate for RESfuels and help bridge the gap.
Addressing high feedstock and production costs of RESfuels, ADVANCEFUEL proposes that innovations in plant breeding and selection, as well as improved logistics and agricultural management, have the potential to increase biomass yields and reduce costs, while innovations in crop rotation schemes could also be effective.
Marginal lands have an important role
A project-led study also reveals the significant role that marginal lands could play in sustainably securing biomass production for resource-efficient advanced fuel value chains; however, in the case of energy crops, this must also be backed by proper policies.
While the recast of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) sought to address key sustainability concerns, greater harmonisation of sustainability criteria for all solid biomass, regardless of its end-use, must be applied with additional social sustainability criteria.
Furthermore, harmonising sustainability criteria for voluntary schemes with a focus on RESfuels is essential.
Drop-in products for cars have the potential to outperform fossil fuels when it comes to engine efficiency, fuel consumption, and emissions limits. For aviation, liquid RESfuels are the only low-carbon alternative, while the shipping sector’s gaseous and liquid RESfuels are the only mid-term alternatives to conventional fuels since electrification is not possible.
The role of RESfuels is certain in the energy transition. Whether or not EU policies will enable their role, or hinder their deployment, is yet to be determined.
