On January 17th the European Parliament voted on the RED II report and endorsed a set of proposals that establish new goals for renewable energy, energy efficiency and renewable transportation fuels.

In a vote on revising the Renewable Energy Directive, MEPs agreed a 12% transport target for renewable energy by 2030.

The contribution of so-called “first generation” biofuels, made from food and feed crops, should be capped to 2017 levels, with a maximum of 7% in road and rail transport. The share of advanced biofuels, which have a lower impact on land use than those based on food crops, renewable transport fuels of non-biological origin, waste-based fossil fuels and renewable electricity will have to be at least 1.5% in 2021, rising to 10% in 2030.

To meet the overall targets, EU Member States are asked to set their own national targets, to be monitored and achieved in line with the draft law on the governance of the Energy Union.

Among the main elements of the Parliament’s position, it deserves to be mentioned the Definition of advanced biofuels which includes, besides feedstocks in Part A of Annex IX, “other biofuels produced from waste and residual biomass not originating from food/feed crops where such biomass fulfils the sustainability criteria as set out in Article 26”.

Regarding biomass, MEPs want support schemes for renewable energy from biomass to be designed to avoid encouraging the unsustainable use of biomass for energy production if there are better industrial or material uses.

The European Parliament has set an ambitious target for efficient energy use, which is those European Union need to fulfil Paris commitments, to fight climate change and to lead the energy transition

The renewable energy target was adopted by a vote of 492 to 88, with 107 abstentions. Now the European Commission, the European Parliament and Member States (Council) will start the so-called “trilogue” negotiations to reach a political agreement.