Quickscan of impacts of ILUC Directive implementation

The Netherlands Society for Nature and Environment (Natuur & Milieu) is keen to inform members of parliament about the potential consequences of the various options on the table for national implementation of the EU Directive on Indirect Land-Use Change, ILUC (EU, 2015). To this end the NGO asked CE Delft to perform a quantitative analysis of the various scenarios published over the past year in the government’s Letters to Parliament and in their proposed legislation.

Against this background, this report seeks to provide insight into the following aspects of each of the proposed implementation scenarios:

• potential renewable energy volumes and their contribution to various policy targets
• impacts on CO2 emissions, including those via ILUC
• impacts on market security
• policy continuity, with implications for policy post-2020.

The analysis focused specifically on three groups of biofuels:

• conventional biofuels produced from crops like oilseed rape or sugarbeet, under the ‘cap’ of the Directive
• advanced biofuels from wastes and residues, which may presently be double-counted (Lists A and B, Annex IX to ILUC Directive)
• most advanced biofuels, from e.g. cellulose (List A, Annex IX to ILUC Directive).