Last week,
we announced
that our CEO, Kathryn Sheridan, would be moderating the two afternoon streams at
the 6th Biofuels International 2013 Conference in Antwerp. I was happy to go with Kathryn to Antwerp
to get an update on the biofuels debate and to meet interesting people working
in the bioeconomy sector
Day One
set the framework for the debate and the hot topic was the uncertain political
and regulatory environment for biofuels, particularly on indirect land use
change (ILUC). The afternoon
Finance Stream session included presentations from Lars Gaustav, Senior Vice
President for Transport
Fuel and Retail ASA, Chris van Niekerk, Associate Director at NIBC
Bank and Ludwig Goris, Investment Manager at Capricorn.
During
the session, the European Parliament voted on a 6% cap for biofuels derived
from food crops such as wheat, corn, or sugar in transport fuels. MEPs also voted to postpone the
decision on ILUC factors until 2020.
The vote now goes to second reading so it will be a while before this
uncertainty is resolved.
Summarising
the session, Kathryn said, “We've seen some political movement today with the
vote in Strasbourg. There is a
feeling that the market has slowed and that, at least in Scandinavia, the
market share of renewables is shifting.
However, there is a market in Europe and the customer wants to make
sustainable choices. We need to
create a regulatory environment that will help the industry give the consumer
what they want.”
In the
morning session of Day Two, companies presented interesting case studies of
their technologies. Kathryn then
moderated the afternoon stream on Sustainability and ILUC. Dr Martin Grass, Auditor at Interek,
stressed the contradictions in Member State laws and in EU regulation and pointed
out the lack of a positive list for 'good' biofuels. On the other side, Daan Peters from ECOFYS
argued, “It's time to stop blaming other sectors for ILUC if we want policy support”
and that, “One size doesn't fit all.”
Pietro
Caloprisco, Policy Officer at NGO Transport and Environment,
stressed the importance of efficiency in transport and urged the audience to
lobby for quicker progress on the biofuel-related Directives. Carmen Millan Chacartegui, Director of
Project Promotion and Institutional Relations at Abengoa Bioenergia
showed how bioethanol plants can create jobs and socio-economic value in
depressed regions like Andalusia.
The
conference showcased the intense research and innovation happening in the
bioeconomy field. We were pleased
to be part of this conference and to provide a professional moderator service
to the participants. We believe
that bioeconomy will play a significant role in the
world’s future industrial development.
Blog by Zoe Volioti
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