UFOP published JFRG Band 32 - Position paper biofuel research

Future biofuel research: Technology and climate protection

Berlin, 17 February 2022. Drive climate protection forward now with sustainable and greenhouse gas-optimised biofuels and at the same time raise their potential through strategic research funding; this is, in brief, the message of the position paper published by the UFOP. Biofuels are the only alternative so far for replacing fossil fuels in existing vehicle fleets. The UFOP underlines the statement of climate scientists that time is running out and that political action must therefore be geared to this.

The expert commission on "Biofuels and Renewable Resources" set up by the UFOP in 2005 justifies the need for action with the fear that as a result of the critical discussion on the prospects of the internal combustion engine, the next generation of academics will also be unsettled and leave the courses of study that are vital for the vehicle industry. UFOP emphasises that the enormous challenge of successfully shaping the energy transition in transport can only be met with an approach that is open to technology and also goes hand in hand with the necessary career prospects. Vehicles with combustion engines will continue to be developed and produced in large numbers in the future, but at worst not in Germany. The USA, Brazil, Argentina and especially Indonesia are raising the blending percentage of biodiesel, the latter to 30 percent, stresses UFOP. That is why the German government and the EU Commission need to develop a road map for biofuel system research in addition to electrification. The so-called transfomation process must also focus on the vehicle tank as an approach to defossilisation. Here, Germany can and must set the standard in international accompanying research. The position paper of about  70 pages shows approaches to this.

Download position paper