1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:18,360 Traffic levels in Europe are constantly growing. Cars and trucks bring such socio-economic 2 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:24,360 advantages that life without them today is difficult to imagine. But the situation is 3 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:30,520 becoming untenable. Transport produces nearly a third of carbon dioxide emissions, the greenhouse 4 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:37,680 gas mainly responsible for climate change. Moreover, the transport sector relies 98 percent 5 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:43,640 on oil, a fossil fuel, for the most part imported, which is set to become more expensive as reserves 6 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:50,200 become depleted. Europe is proposing an immediate response to this worrying situation. It's 7 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:55,720 encouraging the replacement of diesel and petrol by biofuels, clean, renewable fuels 8 00:00:55,720 --> 00:01:01,680 which are easy to produce from vegetable matter such as rapeseed, cereals and sugar beet. 9 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:06,440 The development of the sector will create jobs and open up new markets for agricultural 10 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:17,760 production. But above all, biofuels contribute to solving broad common problems such as the 11 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:22,160 diversification of energy sources and fulfilling the Kyoto Protocol commitments. 12 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:30,160 We are fighting climate change. We are trying to do this imposing issues related to climate 13 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:34,800 change to industry. But I think we should never forget the transport because transport 14 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:39,800 is actually emitting more greenhouse gases than something else. So that means biofuels 15 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:46,160 being more or less CO2 neutral is a very good way how to fight climate change and fight 16 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:56,480 more emission. This is Stockholm, a city that's pioneered non-polluting urban transport. 17 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:01,080 It's the start of the working day for Jonas Stromberg, the man responsible for the environment 18 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:06,480 at the Public Transport Authority. Like 70 percent of his fellow citizens in the Swedish 19 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:12,960 capital, he takes the bus every day without polluting the environment. Stockholm is the 20 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:20,360 only city in the world where downtown buses don't consume a single drop of oil. Most buses 21 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:25,440 in Stockholm are fueled by bioethanol, a sugar crop or cereal derivative, which emits up 22 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:33,720 to 70 percent less carbon dioxide than a fossil fuel. In fact, like other biofuels, it combusts 23 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:39,060 in a closed cycle. This means in practice that the carbon dioxide emitted by vehicles 24 00:02:39,060 --> 00:02:44,340 using biofuels is reabsorbed during the growing of the plants from which the biofuels themselves 25 00:02:44,340 --> 00:02:48,620 are extracted. When we started a law some years ago, it was mainly for environmental 26 00:02:48,620 --> 00:02:53,940 reasons. But now it's also for financial reasons because the cost of oil is now very high and 27 00:02:53,940 --> 00:02:58,380 also the security of supply of oil is very risky. So that is those are the three reasons 28 00:02:58,380 --> 00:03:05,700 that we do it. Next to Rouen in northern France. Even though the buses operating in the Rouen 29 00:03:05,700 --> 00:03:11,540 conurbation look quite ordinary at first glance, there is a difference. In Rouen, they 30 00:03:11,540 --> 00:03:18,540 run on rapeseed oil. These vehicles, which are significantly less polluting, are equipped 31 00:03:18,540 --> 00:03:24,580 with engines fueled by a mixture containing 30 percent biodiesel, a renewable biofuel 32 00:03:24,580 --> 00:03:32,060 made from vegetable oils. Today, Rouen is a member of a club of 30 French cities whose 33 00:03:32,060 --> 00:03:43,900 public transport fleets run on a biodiesel mixture. It's mainly biodiesel and bioethanol, 34 00:03:43,900 --> 00:03:50,980 two liquid biofuels which have the potential to replace diesel and petrol on a large scale. 35 00:03:50,980 --> 00:03:59,900 They can be used in the engines of modern cars and distributed via existing infrastructures. 36 00:03:59,900 --> 00:04:04,900 Made from oleaginous plants such as rapeseed and sunflowers, biodiesel is obtained by pressing 37 00:04:04,900 --> 00:04:11,980 and refining. It can be used either in its pure form in modified diesel engines or mixed 38 00:04:11,980 --> 00:04:19,700 5 percent to 30 percent with diesel in standard diesel engines. Produced from sugar crops 39 00:04:19,700 --> 00:04:26,300 such as beet or cereals, bioethanol is obtained by fermentation and distillation. It can either 40 00:04:26,300 --> 00:04:32,060 be transformed into an additive called ETBE which improves the quality of the petrol or 41 00:04:32,060 --> 00:04:37,540 it can be directly mixed with petrol in existing engines up to a maximum of 5 percent authorized 42 00:04:37,540 --> 00:04:45,380 by the current directive on petrol quality. A mixture containing up to 85 percent bioethanol 43 00:04:45,380 --> 00:04:53,900 can be used in specially modified engines. Back to Sweden where bioethanol is gaining 44 00:04:53,900 --> 00:05:00,700 a share on the private car market. Sweden was the first member state to support at a 45 00:05:00,700 --> 00:05:05,860 national level the concept of flexifuel cars which can run equally well on pure petrol 46 00:05:05,860 --> 00:05:14,260 or a bioethanol mixture. It's just one single tank and you can then in this tank have either 47 00:05:14,260 --> 00:05:21,980 100 percent petrol as we do today or you can have up to E85 which is 85 percent ethanol 48 00:05:22,020 --> 00:05:27,660 and 15 percent petrol and you can have any mixture between these these two extremes and the engine 49 00:05:27,660 --> 00:05:33,780 will automatically adjust itself. So you choose if you don't find ethanol you can always fill petrol. 50 00:05:33,780 --> 00:05:41,620 Less harmful to the environment these cars are sold at the same price as ordinary cars 51 00:05:41,620 --> 00:05:47,140 and are just as enjoyable to drive. Today they represent 10 percent of sales in Sweden. 52 00:05:47,140 --> 00:05:57,020 Although bioethanol is the most popular biofuel outside the European Union Europe has put more 53 00:05:57,020 --> 00:06:01,740 development effort into biodiesel because the majority of vehicles here have diesel engines. 54 00:06:01,740 --> 00:06:08,860 This is moreover why Europe produces too much petrol in its refineries and is obliged to import 55 00:06:08,860 --> 00:06:14,180 diesel to meet demand. It's therefore only to be expected that biodiesel is used more than 56 00:06:14,180 --> 00:06:21,420 bioethanol in Europe. So today biodiesel is the leading biofuels sold in Europe and produced in 57 00:06:21,420 --> 00:06:32,580 Europe. It represents 80 percent of biofuels in the European Union. Last year we produced two 58 00:06:32,580 --> 00:06:40,660 million tons which is not much when you compare it to the very ambitious targets of the European 59 00:06:40,660 --> 00:06:48,940 strategy but is already quite a lot because we are increasing our production every year by more 60 00:06:48,940 --> 00:06:58,300 than 35 40 percent. Europe is the world leader in biodiesel production. This industrial sector is for 61 00:06:58,300 --> 00:07:04,540 example well developed in France and Germany. The Grand Couronne factory near Rouen is one of the 62 00:07:04,540 --> 00:07:06,940 biggest biodiesel production facilities in Europe. 63 00:07:06,940 --> 00:07:16,380 Every day we produce the equivalent of 1,000 hectares of colza. We receive a hundred trucks 64 00:07:16,380 --> 00:07:23,980 but also trains and trams and we produce 800 tons of ester per day which represents for 65 00:07:23,980 --> 00:07:29,620 the anecdote the equivalent of 8 million kilometers traveled by motorists if they used it 66 00:07:30,420 --> 00:07:39,060 In the biofuels directive adopted in 2003 Europe set itself an indicative objective 67 00:07:39,060 --> 00:07:47,620 replace 5.75 percent of fossil fuels for transport by biofuels by 2010. But in reality it's way 68 00:07:47,620 --> 00:07:52,060 behind this target. The member states have not even been able to obtain the intermediate 69 00:07:52,060 --> 00:08:01,220 objective of 2% by the end of 2005. The imposition of obligatory objectives is one of the main 70 00:08:01,220 --> 00:08:03,100 demands of the biofuel producers. 71 00:08:03,100 --> 00:08:11,700 Today the objective of 5.75% that we have is an indicative objective. It is not enough. 72 00:08:11,700 --> 00:08:16,660 We need an obligatory objective that will allow us to create this market, to truly create the 73 00:08:16,660 --> 00:08:21,660 market and to stimulate investment to create the industry. 74 00:08:21,660 --> 00:08:28,660 In fact several policies are possible to stimulate the use and production of biofuels at European level. 75 00:08:28,660 --> 00:08:33,780 One of the policies is already in place. It's taxation policy where the member states can 76 00:08:33,780 --> 00:08:41,180 give incentives in taxation for biofuels. This is a good instrument but there could 77 00:08:41,180 --> 00:08:46,420 be other instruments, legal instruments for companies that sell oil on the market to have 78 00:08:46,420 --> 00:08:53,820 some part of their product or they blend it with biofuels. 79 00:08:53,820 --> 00:08:58,060 This measure which would oblige suppliers to put a percentage of biofuels on the market 80 00:08:58,060 --> 00:09:05,060 would make investors feel safer and give a new boost to the biofuels industry. 81 00:09:05,060 --> 00:09:12,580 Methanol as fuel is something that has just started only a few years ago. If that blending 82 00:09:12,580 --> 00:09:23,660 limit of 5% is respected by 2010, probably the European production will reach an amount 83 00:09:23,660 --> 00:09:28,340 in the vicinity of 5 billion litres. 84 00:09:28,340 --> 00:09:34,740 To achieve the objective of 5.75% biofuel use by 2010, the European Commission is encouraging 85 00:09:34,740 --> 00:09:40,860 member states to oblige suppliers to market a minimum percentage of biofuels. However, 86 00:09:40,860 --> 00:09:47,540 widespread use of biofuels will need a more integrated policy beyond this date. 87 00:09:47,540 --> 00:09:51,580 With the rise in oil prices, these questions will be increasingly placed on the list of 88 00:09:51,580 --> 00:09:57,740 priorities on the European political agenda. Biofuels have considerable potential. The 89 00:09:57,740 --> 00:10:03,180 European Union is committed to a truly comprehensive policy on biofuels, a policy which will be 90 00:10:03,180 --> 00:10:08,420 developed taking into account environmental imperatives such as respect for biodiversity 91 00:10:08,420 --> 00:10:11,980 and which is in full accordance with the principles of sustainable development.