Despite the uncertain lay of the political land, consumption of biofuels within the EU rose in 2012. Biofuel use in the transport sector rose to 14.4 million tonnes last year which represents a rise of 0.4 million since 2011. There were 14 countries, including Finland, France, Sweden and Spain, which increased their use of biofuels but another 10, including Hungary, the UK and Poland did not.

Everything you need to know about European biofuels

Despite the uncertain lay of the political land, consumption of biofuels within the EU rose in 2012. Biofuel use in the transport sector rose to 14.4 million tonnes last year which represents a rise of 0.4 million since 2011.
There were 14 countries, including Finland, France, Sweden and Spain, which increased their use of biofuels but another 10, including Hungary, the UK and Poland did not.
Biofuels International Conference in Antwerp on 11-12 September is a good opportunity to find out why this is. With producers represented from Denmark, Finland, Italy and Belgium, as well as the US and Canada, delegates will benefit from a truly international viewpoint. Delegates registered from countries ranging from Colombia to Sweden will also be able to participate in the debate.
With the vote due for the draft legislation regarding capping food-based biofuels at 5.5% on the 10th September, the day before the conference kicks off, the timing couldn't be better.
Bernd Kuepker, Policy Officer at DG Energy, European Commission will be on hand to explains exactly how the decision was reached not to include ILUC calculations in the proposals.
‘I believe we need to include these effects,' says Lars Gaustad, Senior Vice President for Transport Fuel at Statoil Fuel & Retail, another speaker at the event, but admits, ‘the current ILUC calculations do not offer anything like the accuracy required in a regulatory framework. He also believes that a 5.5% is a fairly rudimentary way of dealing with a complex issue, and may prevent some effective biofuels reaching the market. Sari Mannonen, Director of UPM Biofuels, on the other hand, argues that sufficient differentiation between conventional and advanced biofuels must be established.
Arthur Reijnhart, General Manager for Alternative Energy & Fuels Development Strategy at Shell will also be giving his viewpoint on whether the current policies will damage the market and take a closer look at the next step for advanced biofuel developers.

This event represents an excellent opportunity to meet a cross-section of industry experts at the same place at the same time. Notably, we are running a special Buy one Get one FREE offer so you don't have to attend alone. This means you can bring a colleague to help you network completely free of charge.
With only three weeks before the start of the influential event, register your participation now at www.biofuels-news.com/conference