Directive 98/70/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998 relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels (3) establishes minimum specifications for petrol and diesel fuels for use in road and non-road mobile applications for health and environmental reasons.
(2)
One of the objectives laid down in the Sixth Community Environment Action Programme established by Decision No 1600/2002/EC (4) of 22 July 2002 is to achieve levels of air quality that do not give rise to significant negative impacts on, or risks to, human health and the environment. In its statement accompanying Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (5) the Commission recognised the need to reduce emissions of harmful air pollutants if significant progress were to be made towards the objectives established in the Sixth Community Environment Action Programme and foresaw, in particular, new legislative proposals that would further reduce Member States’ permitted national emissions of key pollutants, reduce emissions associated with refuelling of petrol cars at service stations and address the sulphur content of fuels, including marine fuels.
(3)
The Community has committed itself under the Kyoto Protocol to greenhouse gas emission targets for the period 2008-2012. The Community has also committed itself by 2020 to a 30 % reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the context of a global agreement and a 20 % reduction unilaterally. All sectors will need to contribute to these goals.
(4)
One aspect of greenhouse gas emissions from transport has been tackled through the Community policy on CO2 and cars. Transport fuel use makes a significant contribution to overall Community greenhouse gas emissions. Monitoring and reducing fuel life cycle greenhouse gas emissions can contribute to helping the Community meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals through the decarbonisation of transport fuel.
(5)
The Community has adopted regulations limiting pollutant emissions from light and heavy duty road vehicles. The fuel specification is one of the factors that influence the ease with which such emission limits can be met.
(6)
Derogations from the maximum summer petrol vapour pressure should be limited to those Member States with low ambient summer temperatures. It is therefore appropriate to clarify in which Member States a derogation should be permitted. These are, in principle, those Member States where the average temperature for a majority of their territory is below 12 °C for at least two of the three months of June, July and August.
(7)
Directive 97/68/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1997 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to measures against the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants from internal combustion engines to be installed in non-road mobile machinery (6), sets emission limits for engines used in non-road mobile machinery. Fuel enabling the proper functioning of these engines needs to be provided for the operation of this machinery.
(8)
The combustion of road transport fuel is responsible for around 20 % of Community greenhouse gas emissions. One approach to reducing these emissions is through reducing the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of these fuels. This can be done in a number of ways. In view of the Community’s ambition to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the significant contribution that road transport makes to those emissions, it is appropriate to establish a mechanism requiring fuel suppliers to report the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of the fuel that they supply and to reduce them from 2011 onwards. The methodology for the calculation of life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels should be identical to that established for the purposes of the calculation of greenhouse gas impacts under Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (7).
(9)
Suppliers should, by 31 December 2020, gradually reduce life cycle greenhouse gas emissions by up to 10 % per unit of energy from fuel and energy supplied. This reduction should amount to at least 6 % by 31 December 2020, compared to the EU-average level of life cycle greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy from fossil fuels in 2010, obtained through the use of biofuels, alternative fuels and reductions in flaring and venting at production sites. Subject to a review, it should comprise a further 2 % reduction obtained through the use of environmentally friendly carbon capture and storage technologies and electric vehicles and an additional further 2 % reduction obtained through the purchase of credits under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol. These additional reductions should not be binding on Member States or fuel suppliers on entry into force of this Directive. The review should address their non-binding character.
(10)
Biofuel production should be sustainable. Biofuels used for compliance with the greenhouse gas reduction targets laid down in this Directive should therefore be required to fulfil sustainability criteria. In order to ensure a coherent approach between energy and environment policies, and to avoid the additional costs to business and the environmental incoherence that would be associated with an inconsistent approach, it is essential to provide the same sustainability criteria for the use of biofuels for the purposes of this Directive on the one hand and Directive 2009/28/EC on the other. For the same reasons, double reporting should be avoided in this context. Furthermore, the Commission and competent national authorities should coordinate their activities within the framework of a committee specifically responsible for sustainability aspects.
(11)
The increasing worldwide demand for biofuels, and the incentives for their use provided for in this Directive should not have the effect of encouraging the destruction of biodiverse lands. Those finite resources, recognised in various international instruments to be of value to all mankind, should be preserved. Consumers in the Community would, in addition, find it morally unacceptable that their increased use of biofuels could have the effect of destroying biodiverse lands. For these reasons, it is necessary to provide sustainability criteria ensuring that biofuels can qualify for the incentives only when it can be guaranteed that they do not originate in biodiverse areas or, in the case of areas designated for nature protection purposes or for the protection or rare, threatened or endangered ecosystems or species, the relevant competent authority demonstrates that the production of the raw material does not interfere with those purposes. The sustainability criteria should consider forest as biodiverse where it is a primary forest in accordance with the definition used by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in its Global Forest Resource Assessment, which countries use worldwide to report on the extent of primary forest or where it is protected by national nature protection law. Areas where collection of non-wood forest products occurs should be included, provided the human impact is small. Other types of forests as defined by the FAO, such as modified natural forests, semi natural forests and plantations, should not be considered as primary forests. Having regard furthermore, to the highly biodiverse nature of certain grasslands, both temperate and tropical, including highly biodiverse savannahs, steppes, scrublands and prairies, biofuels made from raw materials originating in such lands should not qualify for the incentives provided for by this Directive. The Commission should establish appropriate criteria and geographical ranges to define such highly biodiverse grasslands in accordance with the best available scientific evidence and relevant international standards.
(12)
In calculating the impact of greenhouse gas emissions of land conversion, economic operators should be able to use actual values for the carbon stocks associated with the reference land use and the land use after conversion. They should also be able to use standard values. The work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the appropriate basis for such standard values. That work is not currently expressed in a form that is immediately applicable by economic operators. The Commission should therefore produce guidance drawing on that work to serve as the basis for the calculation of carbon stock changes for the purposes of this Directive, including such changes to forested areas with a canopy cover of between 10 % and 30 %, savannahs, scrublands and prairies.
(13)
It is appropriate for the Commission to develop methodologies with a view to assessing the impact of the drainage of peatlands on greenhouse gas emissions.
(14)
Land should not be converted for the production of biofuels if its carbon stock loss upon conversion could not, within a reasonable period, taking into account the urgency of tackling climate change, be compensated by the greenhouse gas savings resulting from the production of biofuels. This would prevent unnecessarily burdensome research by economic operators and the conversion of high carbon stock land that would prove to be ineligible for producing raw materials for biofuels. Inventories of worldwide carbon stocks indicate that wetlands and continuously forested areas with canopy cover of more than 30 % should be included in that category. Forested areas with a canopy cover of between 10 % and 30 % should also be included, unless there is evidence demonstrating that their carbon stock is sufficiently low to justify their conversion in accordance with the rules laid down in this Directive. The reference to wetlands should take into account the definition laid down in the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat, adopted on 2 February 1971 in Ramsar.
(15)
The incentives provided for in this Directive will encourage increased production of biofuels worldwide. Where biofuels are made from raw material produced within the Community, they should also comply with Community environmental requirements for agriculture, including requirements for the protection of the quality of groundwater and surface water, and with social requirements. However, there is a concern that production of biofuels in certain third countries might not respect minimum environmental or social requirements. It is therefore appropriate to encourage the development of multilateral and bilateral agreements and voluntary international or national schemes that cover key environmental and social considerations, in order to promote the production of biofuels worldwide in a sustainable manner. In the absence of such agreements or schemes, Member States should require economic operators to report on those issues.
(16)
Sustainability criteria will be effective only if they lead to changes in the behaviour of market actors. Those changes will occur only if biofuels meeting those criteria command a price premium compared to those that do not. According to the mass balance method of verifying compliance, there is a physical link between the production of biofuels meeting the sustainability criteria and the consumption of biofuels in the Community, providing an appropriate balance between supply and demand and ensuring a price premium that is greater than in systems where there is no such link. To ensure that biofuels meeting the sustainability criteria can be sold at a higher price, the mass balance method should therefore be used to verify compliance. This should maintain the integrity of the system while at the same time avoiding the imposition of an unreasonable burden on industry. Other verification methods should, however, be reviewed.
(17)
Where appropriate, the Commission should take due account of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment which contains useful data for the conservation of at least those areas that provide, in critical situations, basic ecosystem services such as watershed protection and erosion control.
(18)
Co-products from the production and use of fuels should be taken into account in the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions. The substitution method is appropriate for the purposes of policy analysis but not for the regulation of individual economic operators and individual consignments of transport fuels. In these cases the energy allocation method is the most appropriate method, as it is easy to apply, is predictable over time, minimises counter-productive incentives and produces results that are generally comparable with those produced by the substitution method. For the purposes of policy analysis the Commission should also, in its reporting, present results using the substitution method.
(19)
In order to avoid a disproportionate administrative burden, a list of default values should be laid down for common biofuel production pathways and that list should be updated and expanded when further reliable data is available. Economic operators should always be entitled to claim the level of greenhouse gas savings for biofuels established by that list. Where the default value for greenhouse gas savings from a production pathway lies below the required minimum level of greenhouse gas savings, producers wishing to demonstrate their compliance with this minimum level should be required to show that actual emissions from their production process are lower than those that were assumed in the calculation of the default values.
(20)
It is appropriate for the data used in the calculation of the default values to be obtained from independent, scientifically expert sources and to be updated as appropriate as those sources progress their work. The Commission should encourage those sources to address, when they update their work, emissions from cultivation, the effect of regional and climatological conditions, the effects of cultivation using sustainable agricultural and organic farming methods, and the scientific contribution of producers, within the Community and in third countries, and civil society.
(21)
In order to avoid encouraging the cultivation of raw materials for biofuels in places where this would lead to high greenhouse gas emissions, the use of default values for cultivation should be limited to regions where such an effect can reliably be excluded. However, to avoid a disproportionate administrative burden, it is appropriate for Member States to establish national or regional averages for emissions from cultivation, including from fertiliser use.
(22)
Global demand for agricultural commodities is growing. Part of this increased demand will be met through an increase in the amount of land devoted to agriculture. The restoration of land that has been severely degraded or heavily contaminated and therefore cannot be used, in its present state, for agricultural purposes is a way of increasing the amount of land available for cultivation. The sustainability scheme should promote the use of restored degraded land, because the promotion of biofuels will contribute to the growth in demand for agricultural commodities. Even if biofuels themselves are made using raw materials from land already in arable use, the net increase in demand for crops caused by the promotion of biofuels could lead to a net increase in the cropped area. This could affect high carbon stock land, which would result in damaging carbon stock losses. To alleviate this risk, it is appropriate to introduce accompanying measures to encourage an increased rate of productivity on land already used for crops, the use of degraded land, and the adoption of sustainability requirements, comparable to those laid down in this Directive for Community biofuel consumption, in other biofuel-consuming countries. The Commission should develop a concrete methodology to minimise greenhouse gas emissions caused by indirect land use changes. To this end, the Commission should analyse, on the basis of best available scientific evidence, in particular, the inclusion of a factor for indirect land use changes in the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions, and the need to incentivise sustainable biofuels which minimise the impact of land use change and improve biofuel sustainability with respect to indirect land use change. In developing this methodology, the Commission should address, inter alia, the potential indirect land use changes resulting from biofuels produced from non-food cellulosic material and from ligno-cellulosic material.
(23)
Since the measures provided for in Articles 7b to 7e of Directive 98/70/EC also promote the functioning of the internal market, by harmonising sustainability criteria for biofuels for target accounting purposes under that Directive, and thus facilitate, in accordance with Article 7b(8) of that Directive, trade between Member States in biofuels which comply with these conditions, they are based on Article 95 of the Treaty.
(24)
Continuing technical progress in the fields of automotive and fuel technology coupled with the continuing desire to ensure that the level of environmental and health protection is optimised necessitate periodic review of the fuel specifications based upon further studies and analyses of the impact of additives and biofuel components on pollutant emissions. Therefore, the possibility of facilitating the decarbonisation of transport fuels should be regularly reported upon.
(25)
Detergent use can contribute to the maintenance of clean engines and therefore the reduction of pollutant emissions. At present there is no satisfactory way of testing fuel samples for their detergency properties. Therefore the responsibility for informing their customers of the benefits of detergents and their use rests with suppliers of fuel and vehicles. Nevertheless, the Commission should review whether further developments would result in a more effective approach to optimising the use of and benefits from detergents.
(26)
Provisions concerning the blending of ethanol into petrol should be reviewed on the basis of experience gained from the application of Directive 98/70/EC. The review should examine in particular the provisions concerning limits on vapour pressure and possible alternatives for ensuring that ethanol blends do not exceed acceptable vapour pressure limits.
(27)
Blending ethanol into petrol increases the vapour pressure of the resulting fuel. Moreover petrol vapour pressure should be controlled to limit air pollutant emissions.
(28)
Blending ethanol into petrol results in a non-linear change of the vapour pressure of the resulting fuel mixture. It is appropriate to provide for the possibility of a derogation from the maximum summer vapour pressure for such mixtures after an appropriate assessment by the Commission. A derogation should be conditional on compliance with Community legislation on air quality and air pollution. Such a derogation should correspond to the actual increase in vapour pressure that results from adding a given percentage of ethanol to petrol.
(29)
In order to encourage the use of low-carbon fuels while respecting air pollution targets, petrol refiners should, where possible, make available low vapour pressure petrol in the volumes required. As this is not the case at present, the vapour pressure limit for ethanol blends should be increased, subject to certain conditions, in order to allow the biofuels market to develop.
(30)
Some older vehicles are not warranted to use petrol with a high biofuel content. These vehicles may travel from one Member State to another. It is therefore appropriate to ensure for a transitional period, the continued supply of petrol suitable for these older vehicles. Member States should in consultation with stakeholders, ensure an appropriate geographical coverage reflecting the demand for such petrol. The marking of petrol, for example as E5 or E10, should be consistent with the relevant standard drawn up by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN).
(31)
It is appropriate to adapt Annex IV to Directive 98/70/EC to enable the placing on the market of diesel fuels with a higher biofuel content (B7) than envisaged in standard EN 590:2004 (B5). This standard should be updated accordingly and should establish limits for technical parameters not included in that Annex, such as oxidation stability, flash point, carbon residue, ash content, water content, total contamination, copper strip corrosion, lubricity, kinematic viscosity, cloud point, cold filter plugging point, phosphorous content, acid index, peroxides, acid index variation, injector fouling and addition of additives for stability.
(32)
In order to facilitate the effective marketing of biofuels, CEN is encouraged to continue working rapidly on a standard allowing the blending of higher levels of biofuel components into diesel and, in particular, to develop a standard for ‘B10’.
(33)
A limit for the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) content of diesel is required for technical reasons. However, such a limit is not required for other biofuel components, such as pure diesel-like hydrocarbons made from biomass using the Fischer-Tropsch process or hydro-treated vegetable oil.
(34)
Member States and the Commission should take appropriate steps to facilitate the placing on the market of gasoil containing 10 ppm sulphur earlier than 1 January 2011.
(35)
The use of specific metallic additives, and in particular the use of methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT), might raise the risk of damage to human health and might cause damage to vehicle engines and emission control equipment. Many vehicle manufacturers advise against the use of fuel containing metallic additives and the use of such fuel may invalidate vehicle warranties. It is therefore appropriate to keep under constant review the effects of the use of the MMT in fuel in consultation with all relevant stakeholders. Pending further review it is necessary to take steps to limit the severity of any damage that may be caused. It is therefore appropriate to set an upper limit on the use of MMT in fuel, based upon currently available scientific knowledge. This limit should be revised upwards only if the use of higher dosage rates can be demonstrated not to cause adverse effects. To avoid consumers unknowingly invalidating their vehicles’ warranties, it is also necessary to require the labelling of any fuel that contains metallic additives.
(36)
In accordance with point 34 of the Interinstitutional agreement on better law making (8), Member States are encouraged to draw up, for themselves and in the interests of the Community, their own tables, which will, as far as possible, illustrate the correlation between this Directive and the transposition measures and to make those tables public.
(37)
The measures necessary for the implementation of Directive 98/70/EC should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (9).
(38)
In particular, the Commission should be empowered to adopt implementing measures concerning the mechanism to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to adapt the methodological principles and values necessary for assessing whether sustainability criteria have been fulfilled in relation to biofuels, to establish criteria and geographic ranges for highly biodiverse grassland, to revise the limit for the MMT content of fuel and to adapt to technical and scientific progress the methodology for the calculation of lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, the permitted analytical methods related to the fuel specifications and the vapour pressure waiver permitted for petrol containing bioethanol. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive by the adaptation of the methodological principles and values, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.
(39)
Directive 98/70/EC provides for a number of fuel specifications some of which are now redundant. In addition, it contains a number of derogations that have expired. For reasons of clarity it is therefore appropriate to delete these provisions.
(40)
Council Directive 1999/32/EC of 26 April 1999 relating to a reduction in the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels (10) lays down some aspects of fuel use in inland waterway transport. The delimitation between that Directive and Directive 98/70/EC requires clarification. Both Directives establish limits for the maximum sulphur content of gas-oil used in inland waterway vessels. In the interest of clarity and legal certainty, it is therefore, appropriate to adjust those Directives, so that only one act lays down this limit.
(41)
New, cleaner engine technologies have been developed for inland waterway vessels. These engines can only be fuelled with very low-sulphur fuel. The sulphur content of inland waterway vessel fuels should be reduced as soon as possible.
(42)
Directive 98/70/EC and Directive 1999/32/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.
(43)
Council Directive 93/12/EEC of 23 March 1993 relating to the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels (11) has been extensively amended over time and as a result no longer retains any elements of substance. It should therefore be repealed.
(44)
Since the objectives of this Directive, namely ensuring a single market for fuel for road transport and non-road mobile machinery and ensuring respect for minimum levels of environmental protection from use of this fuel cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives,
