BAKGRUNN (fra Kommisjonens rapport 24.10.2023)

1.    Introduction

Pursuant to Article 7a of Directive 98/70/EC relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels (henceforth the "Fuel Quality Directive") and Article 5 of Council Directive (EU) 2015/652 laying down calculation methods and reporting requirements pursuant to Directive 98/70/EC, Member States are required to report annually on the greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of fuels and energy supplied in their territories. This reporting obligation applied for the first time for the reporting year 2017, following the application and transposition of Council Directive (EU) 2015/652. This annual report comprises the data reported for the year 2021.

Furthermore, pursuant to Article 8(3) of Directive 98/70/EC Member States are required to report on national fuel quality data for the preceding calendar year.

This annual report summarises the information provided by Member States in relation to the above-mentioned reporting requirements. It is based on the data submitted by Member States to the European Environment Agency (EEA) for the year 2021.

2.    Volumes and life cycle greenhouse gas intensity of fuel and energy types

Article 7a of the Fuel Quality Directive, in conjunction with the Council Directive (EU) 2015/652, sets out reporting requirements concerning the following:

• the total volume of each type of fuel or energy supplied for road transport and non-road mobile machinery (including inland waterway vessels when not at sea), agricultural and forestry tractors, and recreational craft when not at sea;
• the life cycle GHG emissions per unit of energy, including the provisional mean values of the estimated indirect land use change (ILUC) emissions from biofuels;
• the feedstock and the biofuel production pathway used for each of the biofuels supplied on the territories of Member States.

The Fuel Quality Directive obliges Member States to require fuel suppliers to reduce the life cycle GHG intensity of transport fuels, i.e., the life cycle GHG emissions per unit of energy from fuel and energy supplied, by a minimum of 6% by 31 December 2020 compared with the fuel baseline standard for 2010 of 94.1 gCO2eq/MJ. ILUC GHG emissions are not taken into account in assessing compliance with the minimum 6% reduction target. The Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001 foresees several measures to address ILUC including a cap on food- and feed-based biofuels, with its delegated act setting out detailed criteria for determining high ILUC-risk feedstock for biofuels to be gradually phased-out by 2030 and the criteria for certifying low ILUC-risk biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels.

In the year 2021, all 27 Member States, UK (covering Northern Ireland), Norway and Iceland provided data on greenhouse gas emission reductions in the appropriate format. The comparisons between aggregated figures refer to EU-27 for all reference years.