BIKE (cofin)

In 2015, the EU Renewable Energy Directive introduced a new concept for transport biofuels in the legislative framework, the indirect land use change (ILUC). The Renewable Energy Directive 2018 (REDII) now introduces an exemption for low ILUC risk biofuels. Low ILUC risk is defined as: biofuels produced in a way that reduces ILUC emissions, either because the biomass used results from productivity gains or because they come from crops produced on abandoned or severely degraded land' '.

The aim of the proposed project is to support the EC in the planned revisions of REDII by providing evidence for the market potential of low ILUC risk value chains for biomass and biofuels made from it in Europe. The project will evaluate possible productivity gains for crops grown on abandoned or severely degraded lands, as well as map and evaluate the feasibility of new production routes for transport biofuels. The core activity of the BIKE project is to investigate the reliability of identified production routes for low ILUC-risk biomass biofuels, assessing the environmental, social and economic sustainability of proposed solutions. A detailed assessment will also be made of the existing policies and legal framework affecting the deployment of low ILUC risk value chains. This is to inform future policy and decision-making in this area and to give producers of biofuels a more concrete perspective on the realization of new advanced biofuel chains.