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Campaign Group Urges EU to Reject Automakers' Push to Extend Biofuel Use Beyond 2035

Transport & Environment urges the European Commission to reject automakers' calls to extend biofuel use in cars beyond 2035, arguing supplies are limited and many biofuels are not truly carbon-neutral. The NGO notes that about 60% of biofuels and 80% of used cooking oil are imported, and crop-based fuels often save only ~60% of CO2 once lifecycle emissions are counted. Advanced waste-derived fuels are cleaner but scarce and largely reserved for aviation and shipping; including road transport could push demand to two to nine times sustainable 2050 supply. T&E warns that allowing broad biofuel use could raise emissions up to 23% by 2050 and recommends excluding them from the post-2035 road transport plan or capping use tightly.

09:25 PM, 11/28/2025Environment
Campaign Group Urges EU to Reject Automakers' Push to Extend Biofuel Use Beyond 2035

Transport & Environment (T&E) is urging the European Commission to resist automakers' requests to allow cars to continue running on biofuels after 2035, arguing supplies are limited and many biofuels are not genuinely carbon-neutral.

Under EU rules meant to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles, new passenger cars must produce zero tailpipe CO2 emissions from 2035. Automakers are lobbying for an exemption to permit so-called carbon-neutral fuels to power internal combustion engines, plug-in hybrids and range extenders. The Commission is scheduled to announce measures to support the auto sector on December 10.

In a new report, T&E reviews the 2018 changes to EU law that curtailed crop-based biofuels (for example, those from palm oil or soy) and promoted waste-based sources. Today, waste-derived materials such as used cooking oil and animal fats account for roughly half of bio-based diesel consumed in the EU.

However, T&E highlights that about 60% of the EU's biofuels and roughly 80% of used cooking oil are imported, mainly from Asia, and that cases of fraud are rising — including instances where palm oil is misdeclared as waste feedstock.

The group says biofuels made from food crops typically deliver only around a 60% CO2 reduction compared with fossil fuels once emissions from cultivation, land-use change and transport are included, and they can drive deforestation.

More advanced fuels produced from municipal waste or sewage sludge are substantially more sustainable, the report notes, but they are currently scarce and largely earmarked for aviation and shipping. T&E estimates that if road transport were to draw on these advanced feedstocks, EU demand by 2050 could be two to nine times larger than the sustainable supply.

T&E warns that permitting broad use of biofuels in cars could, counterintuitively, increase overall CO2 emissions by as much as 23% by 2050. For that reason, the group recommends excluding biofuels from the post-2035 road transport strategy; if any bio-based fuels are allowed, T&E advises limiting them to 5% of car sales and restricting use to vehicles running on genuinely carbon-neutral e-fuels.

The report underscores enforcement and traceability challenges in current biofuel supply chains and urges policymakers to prioritise transparent accounting of lifecycle emissions and to reserve scarce sustainable feedstocks for sectors with fewer decarbonisation alternatives, such as aviation and shipping.

By Philip Blenkinsop

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