The newest proposal from the German government doesn’t go far enough to revitalize the biodiesel market, leaders argued at the seventh biofuels conference held in December in Berlin.
The German BioEnergy Association and the German Union for Promoting Oil Seeds and Protein Plants (UFOP) called for a reduction in fuel taxes on biodiesel to no more than 10 cents per liter instead of freezing the current rate of 18 cents per liter as proposed instead of phasing in full fuel taxes over the next three years.
The German organizations also recommended the German government withdraw the planned reduction of the biofuel blending mandate for 2015 from 8 percent to 6.25 percent. “Concerns about the impact of increased biofuel production on food prices have proven to be outdated in view of the developments of commodity prices of the past months.”
The president of UFOP recommended the implementation of sustainability regulations be postponed, saying “the implementation of these requirements within the biofuel sustainability ordinance have proven to be quite problematic in practice.”
© 2010 BBI International Media
