Renewable Energy Directive (REDII) — animal feed with a high indirect risk of land-use change

1.3.2019

Question for written answer E-001130-19
to the Commission
Rule 130
João Ferreira (GUE/NGL)

Several environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have recently expressed concern at the content of the European Commission’s proposal for a delegated act laying down criteria for the classification of raw materials with a high risk of indirect land use change, under the Renewable Energy Directive (REDII).

These NGOs consider that the preliminary draft of this proposal fails in at least two fundamental aspects:

• —The criteria defining a food crop as unfit for use in the production of biofuels production in the EU (and thus indirect risks of land use change) are not fit for purpose, and enable the use soya beans, despite evidence indicating that this crop is a major cause of the destruction of natural habitats, especially in South America;
• —The derogations provided for make it possible to use certain kinds of palm oil for biofuels, despite the deforestation this crop causes.

What view does the Commission take of these concerns and what lessons will it draw from them?

Is the Commission willing to support the classification of soya beans as a high-risk category and to reconsider and withdraw the derogations for palm oil?