German Parliament sets clear guidelines for climate protection in transportation, against fraud in biofuel market

The Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Crops (UFOP) said April 23 that it views a decision by the German Bundestag to implement the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) as a bold and groundbreaking step for climate protection in the transportation sector and for greater integrity in the biofuel market.

By raising the greenhouse-gas (GHG) quota obligation to 65 percent by 2040 and gradually increasing the cap on biofuels from cultivated biomass from the current 4.4 percent to 5.8 percent by 2033, the legislature is establishing clear framework conditions for the accelerated defossilization of transportation.

From UFOP’s perspective, the retroactive elimination as of Jan. 1, 2026, of double counting for biofuels derived from certain waste feedstocks is particularly noteworthy.

“This eliminates a key incentive for fraud and strengthens confidence in sustainability certification and origin documentation,” emphasized Stephan Arens, the association’s managing director.

Supplementary measures to tighten fraud prevention are an important step toward stabilizing the market, the association stated.

Against the backdrop of increasing climate risks and geopolitical uncertainties, such as those arising from the Middle East conflict, the law underscores the growing importance of GHG-emissions trading as a market-based instrument for greater climate protection and of alternative fuels for supply security.

At the same time, the support structure for renewable energy in transportation is being aligned more closely with the interplay between biofuels and renewable electricity.

With the planned multiple crediting of renewable electricity in the commercial-vehicle sector, the legislature is creating targeted incentives for the electrification of this segment.

Against this backdrop, liquid biofuels play a central bridging role.

They make an indispensable contribution to reducing emissions in heavy-duty transport as well as in agriculture and forestry, where alternative propulsion solutions are currently only available to a limited extent.

At the same time, they secure regional value chains.

The rapeseed fields currently in bloom across many regions illustrate this importance.

Rapeseed represents an integrated use with positive effects on biodiversity, soil fertility and domestic protein supply.

UFOP called on the federal government to embed the adopted GHG-quota policy into a comprehensive fuel and propulsion strategy in the near term.

The goal, the organization said, must be to consistently increase the share of renewable energies in the fuel mix in a technology-neutral manner.

With biodiesel and hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) as pure fuels, as well as higher blends such as R33 or B30, solutions for the defossilization of the diesel market are available in the short term.

For the gasoline sector, E20 offers an additional option, the introduction of which requires a timely amendment to the 10th federal emission-control ordinance (BImSchV).

At the same time, the association emphasized the need to significantly reduce energy consumption through efficiency improvements and to further expand electromobility—particularly in public transportation.

With regard to the European level, the association points to the still-pending revision of the EU energy-tax directive, which provides for greater differentiation based on environmental performance.

Given export volumes of 1.6 million tons of biodiesel in 2024 and 1.1 million tons in 2025, UFOP said it sees significant potential to utilize these volumes more extensively in the future for climate protection, the energy transition and domestic supply security.