“Climate protection in transport is unthinkable without biodiesel, bioethanol and biomethane,” stated Artur Auernhammer, Chairman of the German Bioenergy Association (BBE), today at a press conference on the 20th International Congress for Renewable Mobility “Fuels of the Future 2023”. According to Auernhammer, biofuels made by far the greatest contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport. The average saving of biofuels compared to fossil fuels rose to 84 percent in 2021. For this reason, the BBE chairman finds it incomprehensible that Cem Özdemir, as Federal Minister of Agriculture, and Federal Minister of the Environment, Steffi Lemke, are questioning the importance and thus the future of sustainably certified biofuels from cultivated biomass.
The greenhouse gas reduction quota (GHG quota) obliges the mineral oil industry to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of its fuels by a certain percentage compared to 2010. Overall, the mineral oil industry significantly exceeded the German GHG quota in 2021. According to current information from the General Customs Directorate (GZD), a total of more than 15 million tons of CO2 reduction were offset. This corresponds to a reduction of 7.26 percent. Only six percent was required by law. Biodiesel, bioethanol and biomethane made the greatest contribution, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 11.1 million tons of CO2. Electromobility saved just under 25,000 tons of CO2. “Biodiesel, bioethanol and biomethane are sustainable and the backbone of greenhouse gas reduction in the mobility sector, and this will remain so in the coming years up to 2030,” emphasizes Artur Auernhammer.
“We assume that the increasing GHG quota will save a total of around 175 million tons of CO2 in traffic by 2030. 110 million tons of CO2 of these total savings are contributed by sustainable biofuels. With all the potential that lies in electromobility and the fuel cell, this makes it clear that there is no way around the biofuels that have been launched on the market to achieve climate protection goals,” says Auernhammer.
The BBE chairman believes that it is already foreseeable that even if the ambitious electromobility targets are met in 2030, the far greater part of the vehicle fleet will be on the road with combustion engines. These must also make an increasing contribution to climate protection. It is therefore right that the current climate protection contribution of the sustainable biofuels that are on the market is at least secured and supplemented by the expansion of advanced biofuels and finally also synthetic fuels, according to Auernhammer. This requires a national fuel and powertrain strategy that takes into account all reduction options in the tank and in the battery.
Cem Özdemir should no longer demand that biofuels from cultivated biomass be dispensed with, emphasizes the BBE President. “The federal government must not commit itself unilaterally to electrification. Under the current conditions, the losers would be climate protection in transport and the taxpayer. In the event that German climate protection targets are not met, emission rights must ultimately be purchased from other EU member states,” Auernhammer affirmed the demands of the associations. The federal government has already had to buy eleven million emission allowances from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Hungary for the period from 2013 to 2021. (awm)