A European Union (EU) summit has agreed a 10% binding minimum target for all 27 ...

A European Union (EU) summit has agreed a 10% binding minimum target for all 27 member states regarding the share of biofuels in overall EU transport petrol and diesel consumption by 2020, writes Keith Nuthall. The agreement¬, which followed weeks of political manoeuvreing, has, however, been qualified in that biofuels must be ‘introduced in a cost-efficient way’. Furthermore, the March European Council in Brussels has agreed that the target should be ‘appropriate subject to production being sustainable, second-generation biofuels becoming commercially available and the fuel quality directive being amended’ to allow more blending. Heads of government also agreed a binding target of a 20% share for renewables in overall EU energy consumption by 2020, although here there was wriggle room too, with some member states allowed lower rates (and some higher) ‘taking account of different national starting points and potentials, including the existing level of renewable energies and energy mix’. The decision reflects something of a victory for supporters of a tough and green EU energy policy. These considerations have also been clear in a proposal from the European Commission (EC) to raise the minimum rate of commercial diesel excise duties sold in the EU from €302 to €380 per 1,000 litres in 2014, to reduce the room for tax competition between member states, which encourages hauliers to buy diesel in low tax countries. In other EU news: *The EU and Russia are discussing the forging of an energy crisis hotline, enabling officials in Brussels and Moscow to instantly access each other to head-off potential disruption to gas and oil supplies because of political problems or technical accidents. *Norway is establishing a carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions trading scheme that mirrors that used in the EU, although there will be fewer pollution credits, protecting prices. *German scientists coordinated by the GeoForschungsZentrum, Potsdam, will inject 60,000 tonnes of CO2 into a saline aquifer more than 700 metres underground near Ketzin, west of Berlin, then monitor how the gas behaves over two years. They want to examine whether buried CO2 leaches to the surface. *The EC has approved Lukoil’s purchase from ConocoPhillips of six fuel retail chains in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Luxembourg, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. *The European Investment Bank (EIB) is planning to lend €60mn to Tunisian gas supplier Société Tunisienne de l’Électricité et du Gaz (STEG) to help fund an expansion of its pipeline network. *The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has acquired a 5.2% stake in UK company Cadogan Petroleum to help fund the exploration, development and production of deep gas fields in Poltava, eastern Ukraine. *Iceland is being taken to the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) Court by the EFTA Surveillance Authority for not complying with the EU directive 2002/88/EC harmonising laws on non-road mobile machinery pollution. Reykjavik must comply as a European Economic Area member (EEA). *Lithuania is threatening to block an EU-Russia energy deal over the closure since last June of Russia’s Druzhba oil pipeline link to Lithuania’s Mazeikiu Nafta refinery. Vilnius alleges deliberately slow repairs to a leak by Transneft, Russia's pipeline operator, after Poland’s PKN Orlen acquired the refinery over Russian rivals. *Europe should not expect ‘any liberalisation of the energy market in Russia under the current administration’ of Vladimir Putin, a European Parliament hearing was told by Vladimir Milov, President of the Institute of Energy Policy, Moscow. He suggested offering Putin investment rights in the EU in return for Russian liberalisation.