Global Renewable Fuel Alliance

December 4, 2015

Press Release

Today, global transport emission have increased to 14% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and about a quarter of the total energy-related CO2 emissions. With the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicting that transport emissions could double by 2050, the need for preventative policy measures by world leaders is clear and urgent. According to the IPCC, transport’s growing emissions could be cut by 15-40% through “aggressive and sustained” policy measures, including reducing carbon intensity of fuels by substituting oil-based products with biofuels.

According to the International Energy Agency, by 2050, biofuels could provide 27% of the world’s total transport fuel and avoid around 2.1 gigatonnes of CO2 emissions per year, with biofuels eventually providing 23% of total emissions reductions in the transport sector. Sustainable biofuels, such as ethanol, can be used in existing vehicle fleet to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40-90% compared to fossil fuels and must be considered an important part of the toolkit to decarbonize transport.

Policies mandating the use of biofuels are now in place in around 64 countries worldwide and, in their Intended National Determined Contributions (INDC) plans, 36 countries that are attending December’s climate talks in Paris have highlighted biofuels use as a key component of their national climate action policies.

Biofuels are a key driver of clean technology innovation and a key part of the global agricultural complex, helping to reduce emissions, facilitating rural development and supporting food production, particularly in poorer regions. Further deployment of biofuels could help drive investment in low carbon technology and in agriculture, increase productivity, create new employment in rural areas, reduce our global reliance on crude oil and provide a stepping stone towards a genuine bio economy.

Representing over 330 biofuels and industrial biotechnology companies that are responsible for 90% of the world’s biofuels production, we reiterate our commitment to producing biofuels sustainably and call on the parties to the UNFCCC to acknowledge the benefits of sustainable biofuels and their contribution towards climate change mitigation and the reduction of greenhouse gas from transport.

We call on world leaders to support a global target for replacing at least 15% of the world’s total oil use in transport with sustainable biofuels by 2030, with a significant presence of advanced biofuels.

See original press release: Global Biofuels and Biotech Industries Unite in Call for Stronger Biofuels Policies to Help in Fight Against Climate Change