| Author (Corporate) | European Commission: Press and Communication Service |
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| Series Title | Press Release |
| Series Details | IP/01/1543 (07.11.01) |
| Publication Date | 07/10/2001 |
| Content Type | News |
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The European Commission adopted an action plan and two proposals for Directives to foster the use of alternative fuels for transport on & November 2001, starting with the regulatory and fiscal promotion of biofuels. The European Commission considers that the use of fuels (such as ethanol) derived from agricultural sources (i.e. biofuels) is the technology with the greatest potential in the short to medium term. The action plan outlines a strategy to achieve a 20% substitution of diesel and gasoline fuels by alternative fuels in the road transport sector by 2020. It concludes that only three options would have the potential to achieve individually more than 5% of total transport fuel consumption over the next 20 years: biofuels which are already available, natural gas in the medium term and hydrogen and fuel cells in the long term. One proposed Directive would establish a minimum level of biofuels as a proportion of fuels sold from 2005, starting with 2% and reaching 5.75% of fuels sold in 2010. The second proposed Directive would give Member States the option of applying a reduced rate of excise duty to pure or blended biofuels, when used either as heating or motor fuel. |
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| Source Link | http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/01/1543&format=HTML&rapid=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en |
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| Subject Categories | Energy, Mobility and Transport, Taxation |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
