EU biofuels regime failing to meet its objectives ACCORDING TO NEW RESEARCH FROM THE University of Eastern Finland the current regulatory framework for biofuels is failing to meet these underlying objectives. As part of climate and energy package, biofuels fall under the regulatory framework created by the Renewable Energy Directive 32 Bioenergy International No 8 0, 4-2015 Peatland carbon emissions less than expected (RED) introduced as part of the EU’s Climate and Energy Package, and biofuels are vital both to the EU’s battle against climate change and in boosting its energy security. The RED sets a mandatory target for renewable energy use in transportation to constitute 10 percent of energy use within the EU by 2020. However, the EU is currently setting new targets to extend beyond 2020 as well as revising the RED. Debating the relevant issues while taking the challenges of the regulatory framework into consideration is therefore of crucial importance to avoid replicating the flaws of the current system in the future EU climate and energy package. Coherent and comprehensive regulation needed Entitled “New Governance in Context, Evaluating the EU Biofuels Regime” the study is a doctoral dissertation by Seita Romppanen, MSc (Admin.) who applies a new governance approach to the examination of the regulatory framework. According to the study, the EU biofuels regime is a good example of a mode of new governance suitable for governing complex regulatory challenges such as sustainable biofuels, but its regulatory architecture and the particular mechanisms of new governance it deploys endanger the achievement of the underlying cli- mate and environmental objectives and the legitimacy of the EU biofuels regime. According to the study, it is important to put in place binding targets in respect of the introduction of biofuels as part of our future energy systems, as well as substantive rules setting the parameters to ensure this mandatory introduction of biofuels is achieved in a sustainable manner. However, it is equally crucial to have in place a credible regulatory framework capable of guaranteeing that the system established to govern these targets and rules on sustainable biofuels performs effectively and legitimately. New governance is an approach that allows all relevant actors, processes and instruments fundamental to the governance of sustainable biofuels to be evaluated together. Based on the comprehensive evaluation of the current EU biofuels regime, the study suggests ways towards how the flaws undermining the sustainable achievement of the climate and environmental objectives should be corrected. Furthermore, in order to improve the regulatory framework for EU biofuels to meet its objectives more effectively and legitimately, the author suggests steps should be taken to realise the potential already inherent in the governance mechanisms such as options to better facilitate the public-private cooperation in EU biofuels governance. Editor’s note: The study “New Governance in Context, Evaluating the EU Biofuels Regime” is available for download at http://epublications.uef. fi/pub/urn_isbn_978-952-61-1763-8 The findings were originally published in European Energy and Environmental Law Review, Journal of Renewable Energy Law and Policy, Review of European Community & International Environmental Law, Ympäristöjuridiikka (Finnish Environmental Law Review) and Climate Law. BI80/4905/AS MARKETS AND FINANCE Duke University scientists have discovered a previously unknown dual mechanism that slows peat decay and may help reduce carbon dioxide emissions from peatlands during times of drought. The naturally occurring mechanism was discovered in 5 000-year-old pocosin bogs in coastal North Carolina, US. Preliminary field experiments suggest it may occur in, or be exportable to, peatlands in other regions as well. – The accepted scientific paradigm is that prolonged drought, coupled with global warming and increased drainage of peatlands for agriculture and forestry, will lower water levels. This could cause peatlands to dry out, decay and release massive amounts of carbon back into the atmosphere. Our research supports a less dire scenario Richardson said. The reason, he said, lies buried in the peatland soil itself. – Southern wooded peatlands are up to 5 000 years old and have more complex plant-derived compounds that have allowed them to adapt to drought through a mechanism that regulates the buildup of phenolics and helps slow down decomposition, said Hongjun Wang, a research scientist at the Duke Wetland Center. This natural adaptation, which was not found as abundantly in soil from boreal peatlands in Canada, protects stored carbon directly by reducing decay-promoting phenol oxidase activity during short-term drought. The mechanism also indirectly protects stored carbon by spurring a shift in the peatlands’ plant cover in response to moderate long-term drought. As water levels drop, plants that contain low levels of phenolics, such as sphagnum moss, ferns and sedges, are replaced by trees and shrubs, which are high in the decay-retarding compounds. – This dual mechanism helps peat resist decay and adapt to climate change, Wang said adding he believes high-phenolic shrubs could naturally expand into northern peatlands or be introduced there as water levels drop, offering hope that scientists might be able to reduce the risk of large carbon releases. BI80/4887/JH The European Union (EU) regulatory framework for biofuels has the potential to address its climate, energy and environmental objectives, but only if carefully tailored and effectively implemented.
Bioenergy no 4 july 2015
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