Greenhouse gas emission intensity of fuels and biofuels for road transport in Europe

The EU has not succeeded in meeting its 2020 target to reduce the greenhouse gas emission intensity of fuels sold for road transport to 6% below 2010 levels. Between 2010 and 2021, the emission intensity decreased by 5.5%, mostly because of the increased use of biofuels. Thirteen countries have succeeded in reducing their emission intensities by more than 6%. If the indirect land use change (ILUC) effects of biofuel production are considered, the emission intensity of fuels sold in the EU decreased slightly between 2019 and 2021.

Average greenhouse gas intensity of road transport fuels in the EU, 2010-2021

Transport is responsible for more than 25% of the EU’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and a major contributor to climate change. Cutting emissions from transport is pivotal to achieving the EU target of becoming climate neutral by 2050.

To support a reduction in GHG emissions from transport, the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) set the target that fuel suppliers should reduce the emission intensity of fuels sold in the EU by 6% by 2020, compared with 2010 levels. Relatively consistent reductions were achieved in 2018, 2019 and 2020, however the reductions have now stagnated at 5.5%.

The overall reduction in emission intensity of road transport fuels between 2017 and 2021 can mainly be attributed to an increase in the use of biofuels, which have a lower emission intensity than fossil fuels. During this period, the share of biofuels in overall fuel sales grew from 4.5% to 6.7%. Furthermore, the emission intensity of biofuels has also been decreasing since 2018, due to a small reduction in the use of oil-based crops such as palm oil and sunflower seed, which generally have a higher emission intensity than other feedstocks used for biofuel production.

However, it is important to ensure that rising demand for biofuels does not have a negative impact on land use by displacing the production of food and feed crops and driving the conversion of land — such as forests and wetlands — to agricultural land, leading indirectly to increased GHG emissions. This phenomenon is known as indirect land use change (ILUC). The FQD requires that Member States identify the feedstock from which their biofuels originate and estimate emissions resulting from ILUC for certain feedstocks.

Emissions from ILUC are not considered for assessing compliance with the 6% 2020 reduction target. If ILUC is taken into account, the average GHG emission intensity of fuels consumed in 2021 is only 3.7% lower than in 2010; it has been decreasing since 2018 because of the reduced use of oils crops, which are substituted by sugars with lower GHG intensity.

Countries	2010-2021 GHG intensity reduction excluding ILUC	2010-2021 GHG intensity reduction including ILUC	2020 target
Sweden	21.6	18.4	6
Finland	13.2	13	6
Malta	6.7	6.7	6
Netherlands	6.3	6.1	6
Luxembourg	6.3	4.4	6
Germany	6.3	4.2	6
Estonia	6.2	6.1	6
Belgium	6.2	2.9	6
Cyprus	6.1	6.1	6
Hungary	6.1	5.5	6
Czechia	6.1	3.7	6
Denmark	6	4	6
Slovakia	6	4	6
Poland	5.3	2.5	6
Portugal	4.8	4	6
Romania	4.8	2.1	6
Slovenia	4.7	4.5	6
France	4.4	1.3	6
Lithuania	4.1	1.8	6
Greece	4	2.2	6
Spain	3.9	2.8	6
Austria	3.8	1	6
Italy	3.6	3.6	6
Ireland	3.1	3.1	6
Latvia	2.8	0.7	6
Bulgaria	2.7	0.7	6
Croatia	2.3	1.4	6
EU-27	5.5	3.7	6

Progress towards meeting the 6% reduction target that was set for 2020 varies widely across Member States. In 2021, thirteen countries succeeded in decreasing their emission intensities by more than 6%, with Sweden and Finland achieving the highest reductions (21.6% and 13.2% respectively). This is because their road transport fuel mixes have relatively high proportions of biofuels (24.7% in Sweden and 15.7% in Finland) and, on average, the biofuels used have relatively low emission intensities (10.7g CO₂e/MJ, 12.7g CO₂e/MJ, respectively).

The two Member States that reduced their emission intensities the least between 2010 and 2021 were Croatia (2.3%) and Bulgaria (2.7%). Both countries have a low share of biofuels in their fuel mix (3.2% and 4.6%, respectively) and much higher biofuel emission intensities (19.3g CO2eq/MJ for Croatia and 50.5g CO2eq/MJ for Bulgaria, the highest in the EU).

The effect that ILUC has on reductions in Member States’ emission intensities largely depends on the feedstocks used to produce biofuels. Oil crops, having the highest emission intensity among biofuel feedstocks are used extensively in several Member States such as Austria and Poland (86% for each country). If ILUC effects are considered, the GHG emission intensity of these biofuels is only marginally lower than diesel produced from fossil fuels (i.e. 79g CO₂e/MJ in Austria and 81g CO₂e/MJ in Poland versus 95.1g CO₂e/MJ for diesel).

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Definition

EU Member States report annually on the volumes, energy content and life cycle GHG emissions of fuels used in road transport and non-road mobile machinery, in line with their obligations under the Fuel Quality Directive 98/70/EC (FQD) Article 7a. Standards relevant to this reporting requirement are inter alia:

EN 228:2012
EN-ISO 5164:2014
ISO 5163:2014
EN 13016-1:2018

This indicator summarises the information reported by the EU Member States — and subsequently collected, checked and compiled by the European Environment Agency together with the European Topic Centre on Climate Change Mitigation and Energy (ETC/CME) — on the volume, energy consumption and GHG intensity of fossil fuels and biofuels.

MethodologyPolicy/environmental relevance

Justification for indicator selection

Policy relevance: Transport consumes one third of all final energy in the EU. The bulk of this energy comes from oil. This means that transport is responsible for a large share of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions and is a major contributor to climate change. While most other economic sectors, such as power production and industry, have reduced their emissions since 1990, those from transport have risen. They now account for more than one quarter of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions. A reversal of this trend is currently not in sight. That makes the transport sector a major obstacle to realising the EU’s climate protection goals.

EU strategy documents focus on decarbonising transport. The European Commission’s 2018 strategy, ‘A clean planet for all: A European strategic long-term vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate neutral economy’, seeks to chart the course for a transition towards ‘net-zero’ greenhouse gas emissions across the EU by 2050. For transport, it underlines the need for a system-based approach, stresses the importance of switching to low-carbon modes and zero-emission vehicles, underlines the central role of electrification and renewable energy sources, and pushes for operational efficiency improvements.

Similarly, from 2016, the ‘European strategy for low-emission mobility’ has identified a more efficient transport system, the rapid deployment of low-emission fuels and the transition towards low- and zero-emission vehicles as priority areas for action.

In the context of these policies, the FQD (together with the Renewable Energy Directive) shall ensure that fuels from renewable sources such as crops and oils do not have negative impacts on land use, e.g. converting pasture or agricultural land previously destined for food and feed markets to biofuel production, while at the same time reducing the lifecycle greenhouse intensity of road fuels through the inclusion of biofuels.

Environmental relevance: The blending of biofuels is one of the methods available for fossil fuel suppliers to reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of the fossil fuels supplied. Where pasture or agricultural land previously destined for food and feed markets is diverted to biofuel production, the non-fuel demand will still need to be satisfied either through intensification of current production or by bringing non-agricultural land into production elsewhere. The latter case constitutes indirect land-use change and, when it involves the conversion of land with high carbon stock, it can lead to significant greenhouse gas emissions (Directive (EU) 2015/1513). The FQD includes provisions to address the impacts of indirect land-use change while monitoring to what extend the share of biofuels in road transport fuels is increasing.

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Greenhouse gas emission intensity of fuels and biofuels for road transport in Europe

Figure 1. Average greenhouse gas intensity of road transport fuels in the EU, 2010-2021

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Figure 2. Average greenhouse gas intensity reduction of road transport fuels in Member States, between 2010-2021

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