German group wants end to ethanol imports

11 March 2008 15:14  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--Germany’s refiners must stop importing ethanol not made in an environmentally sustainable manner, biofuels industry group Verband der Deutschen Biokraftstoffindustrie (VDB) said on Tuesday.

 

Producers in South America and Asia were razing valuable rainforests to make way for ethanol feedstock crops, causing the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) volumes that far exceeded any reductions achieved in blending ethanol with gasoline, VDB spokesman Frank Bruhning told ICIS news.

 

By importing such cheaply-produced product the German oil industry was harming the environment, he said.

 

Meanwhile, Germany’s biofuels producers – who were producing environmentally sustainable bioethanol – had to shut down capacities as they could not compete against the cheap imports.

 

Imports accounted for some 80% - or an estimated 325,000 tonnes/year - of all ethanol required for gasoline blending in Germany, Bruhning said.

 

VDB welcomed the German federal government’s plan to legislate sustainability criteria for biofuels, he added.

 

Until the legislation was in place the onus was on the oil firms to stop using harmful ethanol imports, he said.

 

It remained unclear when the legislation would come into effect, he said, adding it could take as long as two years.

 

The German proposals had to be examined by the European Union (EU) for compliance with EU law. In addition, the European Commission (EC) was working on its own proposal for sustainability criteria that could replace the German plan, he added.

 

German oil industry association Mineralölwirtschaftsverband (MW) in a report last month forecast increasing imports of biofuels and feedstocks to help meet the country’s blending quotas.

 

MWV said it supported plans to certify imports on the basis of environmental sustainability.

By: Stefan Baumgarten
+1 713 525 2653

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