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In his presentation, Artur Auernhammer from the German Renewable Energy Federation emphasised the outstanding importance of biogas for the decarbonisation of the transport sector. In order to realise this goal, he called on the German government to become much more involved and to finally push back the ideologically motivated attitude of the Greens in particular against biogas. In the short term, there is a considerable need for action to stop imports of palm oil-based biodiesel from China, which is presumably falsely labelled as sustainable. This damages credibility, the economy and the environment if large sums of money, which are actually intended for the expansion of renewable energy production in Europe, are channelled to China.
 

Hartmut Höppner, State Secretary at the Ministry of Digitalisation and Transport, emphasised the importance of climate-neutral fuels. While biogas and biomethane are produced continuously, he answered the question of how "e-fuels are to be produced in a dark doldrums" by saying that "the production of fuels does not always have to take place in Germany".

Jane Mmilhat made the European Union's position more than clear: "If we continue to be so reluctant to invest, the USA and China will once again overtake us, as we have already experienced with PV. A lack of investment means that we will lose the global connection. As a result, we are missing out on the opportunity for our economic sectors to grow in this area and we are deliberately trading in negative effects on the economy within the EU.

 

Dr Marcus Bollig (VDA) is calling for a massive increase in the quota targets for RED III. The VDA is demanding a clear and ambitious upward adjustment. Germany is the largest manufacturer of electric vehicles after China, but sales are lagging well behind the political targets. Germany will not achieve its CO2 targets if political guidelines are not implemented consistently and in a technology-neutral manner and work is not carried out on the existing fleet. Combustion engines will continue to be built - so we must include advanced fuels in our considerations. Although the ISCC has recognised the problems arising from the sharp rise in biodiesel imports, sufficient plausibility checks have not been carried out. However, the ISCC is urgently requested to do so.

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The statement by Dr Schmitz, founder of ISCC, fitted the bill. He commented on the dubious imports from China and said that the BMUV had announced last week that there was no evidence of a false declaration and therefore no certificates could be withdrawn. Horst Seide from the German Biogas Association then spoke up and criticised the fact that Dr Schmitz had dealt with the issue of biodiesel imports from China in a very superficial manner when it came to the economic dimension. Patrick Lynch from Bioledger supported this stance and said that it is easy to manipulate the biodiesel declaration. The Dutch government believes that more than 25% of advanced biodiesel was misdeclared.

In Fragen der Zertifizierung wünschten sich die Teilnehmer eine Vereinheitlichung der unterschiedlichen Materiallisten von NABYSI, Union Data Base und ISCC. Die unterschiedlichen Verfahren sind in der praktischen Anwendung sehr problematisch.

 

Finally, Hendrik Etzold from the DBFZ spoke about the development of quota revenues, which led to a decline in new construction projects. The sharp drop in quota prices from just under 550 €/t CO2 to more than half in 2023 was due to oversupply during this period. As the quota obligation for the mineral oil industry will rise sharply, significantly better price and sales opportunities can be expected in the coming years. This means that new biogas upgrading plants will be bankable. The risk of an investment decision is over. A. The high volatility of the quota price.

 

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22 & 23 January 2024 | Navigator for sustainable mobility | Berlin

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