Low-carbon liquid fuel organizations in EU band together to form metagroup

Major European organizations operating in the liquid fuels value chain—including Advanced Biofuels Coalition, Copa-Cogeca, eFuel Alliance, ePURE-European renewable ethanol, European Biodiesel Board, EWABA, Fediol, FuelsEurope, Nordic Blue Crude AS and UPEI—have recently joined forces to form the Renewable & Low-Carbon Liquid Fuels Platform. These partners are working together to contribute to the decarbonization of the mobility sector in a sustainable and affordable way. They represent companies acting at different steps of the value chain, from feedstock and fuel production to supply and distribution, making up a substantial part of the sustainable renewable fuels’ ecosystem.

The platform is intended to act as an enabling forum for our collective communication. The Renewable & Low-Carbon Liquid Fuels Platform aims at exchanging views and best practices on the energy transition and the decarbonization of all transport modes. The platform will also publicly share its views on the design of regulations, necessary for developing business cases for the investments in low-carbon liquid fuels.

The members of the Renewable & Low-Carbon Liquid Fuels Platform are committed to contribute to a climate-neutral economy by 2050 and the associated transition towards fuels produced from alternative feedstocks, consisting of agricultural and forestry sustainable biomass, waste, as well as renewable electricity, water and CO2 for the production of hydrogen-derived synthetic and renewable fuels. Given the significance of the transport sector in the drive towards climate neutrality, a progressive uptake of renewable liquid fuels is essential to achieve these objectives. In this respect, renewable and low-carbon liquid fuels play a particularly important role, given their superior energy density, ease of storage and transport, and the widespread availability of existing infrastructures and vehicles for distribution and use of these fuels, which already contribute today with significant GHG emissions savings in the road transport sector.

The Renewable & Low-Carbon Liquid Fuels Platform believes that renewable and low-carbon liquid fuels are an essential and long-term technological solution. These fuels will continue to contribute to the decarbonization of all transport modes, in road transport strategically complementing electrification and renewable gaseous fuels, and in aviation and maritime where they can be an enduring solution with growing international scale.

Therefore, to ensure the success of the energy transition, it is imperative that EU policymakers grant equal policy recognition and an adequate level of support to all forms of renewable energy sources in transport. All technologies and value chains that have the potential to contribute to climate neutrality should be considered on equal terms. In addition, the platform encourages policymakers to devote particular attention to the social dimension of the energy transition. The social and economic benefits of the emerging liquid fuels value chain, especially for employees and customers, support and service industries, job creation in new value chains, including rural communities around the industrial installations, should be given appropriate considerations. Finally, the ability of renewable and low-carbon liquid fuels to fill the gaps in the mobility strategy to ensure “no-one is left behind” is invaluable; access to affordable mobility and the capability to progressively decarbonize the legacy vehicle fleet are key advantages of these fuels and cannot be overlooked.

As its members believe in a long-lasting and inclusive energy transformation, the Renewable & Low-Carbon Liquid Fuels Platform commits to being an active and transparent contributor to the transformation of our energy and transport systems. The platform also offers its combined expertise around low-carbon technologies in support of the EU’s climate ambition. Last but not least, the members of the Renewable & Low-Carbon Liquid Fuels Platform urge the EU Institutions to work out an enabling regulatory framework that values and supports all low-carbon technologies for the benefit of economies and consumers.