"Fuels of the Future":

Go-ahead given for the five-day online congress

Berlin 24 January 2022. – From 24 to 28 January, more than 60 speakers will discuss measures to achieve climate protection goals at the 19th "Fuels of the Future" congress for renewable mobility. The innovative use and technical further development of renewable fuels in the mobility sector will be at the centre of the lectures and discussion rounds. The Chairman of the Board of the German Bioenergy Association (BBE), Artur Auernhammer, opened the five-day "Fuels of the Future" congress. In the first of a total of fifteen sessions, speakers discussed the European Green Deal and the "Fit-for-55" climate protection package it contains, and highlighted the potential of sustainable fuels and drive technologies.

"The new German government's opening assessment on climate protection has shown that the greenhouse gas savings to be achieved in the transport sector by 2030 are enormous. It is therefore important to consistently use renewable fuels for immediately effective climate protection in transport. Because sustainable biofuels already have a track record in this area that must be further expanded in the future," said the BBE chairman in the first congress session. In 2020, sustainable biofuels would have saved a record value of more than 13 million tonnes of CO2. That is almost 4 million tonnes more than the year before. The greenhouse gas reduction quota, which was raised from 4 per cent in 2019 to 6 per cent in 2020, would be primarily responsible for this. The associated greenhouse gas efficiency competition would have an effect. "Sustainable biofuels are and will therefore remain an indispensable contribution to effective climate protection in transport," Auernhammer emphasised.

Daniela Kluckert, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport, prominently placed the diversity of sustainable drive options in her presentation: "To achieve our ambitious climate protection goals, we need all alternative drive technologies and the entire range of alternative fuels. From battery to eFuel, we need to exploit the benefits of each technology to reduce CO2."
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Küchen, Chief Executive of the Fuels and Energy Trade Association e.V. (en2x), highlighted the new incentives to the climate protection package drafted by the EU Commission: "The Fit for 55 package contains good approaches, such as a reform proposal for the energy tax. This is a very important point: if CO2-neutral fuels are taxed much lower than fossil fuels, we create real supply incentives for green energy. And this is the only way to achieve the climate targets in transport."

Jens Gieseke, Member of the European Parliament and rapporteur of the EPP Group as well as transport policy spokesman of the CDU and CSU Group, was critical of the present "Fit for 55 Package" in his contribution: "We are not satisfied with the draft report of our Liberal colleague Jan Huitema. Regardless of all innovation and  investment cycles, new fleet targets are proposed. The rapporteur has gone beyond what is necessary. We must return to a factual and rational consideration of the dossier." Overbidding competition would benefit neither consumers, manufacturers, workers nor the environment, he said. "On the contrary, we are recklessly risking the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the EU without achieving any real climate benefits," he added.
"The EU proposals to revise the Renewable Energy Directive (REDIII) are an important step in the right direction. The introduction of a 13 per cent greenhouse gas reduction quota for transport and the removal of multiple credits for certain fuels will reduce fossil greenhouse gas emissions - and not just on paper," Dr Stephan Meeder, Vice-President of ePURE, commented in his report. However, the targets for transport must become even more ambitious. Renewable ethanol in particular offers enormous potential, which the EU is still not exploiting properly or fully. It is not the combustion engines that cause climate-damaging emissions, but the fossil fuel that is burnt in them. "Modern engines can already use a higher ethanol blend such as E20 and multiply the GHG savings," says Meeder.

Due to Corona, the congress is being held digitally for the second time. Almost 500 national and international participants were welcomed by the five organising associations of the German biofuel industry on the first day of the congress.

Further information on the programme and opportunities for spontaneous registration are available at www.kraftstoffe-der-zukunft.com.