German biofuels urge parliament to drop quota cut

22 October 2008 17:05  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--German biofuel producers association VDB on Wednesday appealed to the country’s parliamentarians to reverse a government decision to cut biofuels blending levels.

 

Earlier, Germany’s cabinet approved a cut in biofuel blending levels from 6.25% by energy content to 5.25% for 2009. From 2010 the blending level will be 6.25% and remain fixed at that level until 2014.

 

Johannes Lackmann, general manager of Berlin-based Verband der Deutschen Biokraftstoffindustrie (VDB), said the measure would trigger a wave of bankruptcies among biofuels producers and lead to job losses.

 

Producers, especially in the eastern part of the country, had invested heavily to build up capacities, relying on legislation and government promises to promote biofuels.

 

“As recently as last summer at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm [Germany], biofuels were seen as the biggest hope for climate and environment, and for the agricultural sector,” said Lackmann.

 

“But within a year, public opinion has turned on biofuels and companies that previously were given government help and incentives are now being driven into bankruptcy by politicians.”

 

Lackmann said he hoped that legislators in the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house, had a better sense for sustainable environmental policies than cabinet and appealed to them not to accept the decision to reduce and subsequently freeze the blending quotas.

 

Germany’s government under Chancellor Angela Merkel, a coalition between her Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats, has a solid majority in the Bundestag.

 

However, the country is due for a general election next year when the coalition will likely be dissolved. 

 

Such “grand coalition governments” do not allow for a credible parliamentary opposition and as such are widely seen as harmful to the development of the country's parliamentary democracy.

 

According to VDB’s earlier estimates, the government's quota cut could force producers to idle some 600,000 tonnes of capacity, equivalent to six plants, next year.

 

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By: Stefan Baumgarten
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