To promote the use of clean and sustainable energy at industrial, retail and consumer levels, a cohesive policy framework is imperative. The European Commission and the European Environment Agency (EEA) have cooperated with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in leading the clean energy transition efforts through a series of directives and legislation starting with the 1990s.

These efforts are manifested as the commitment of EU countries to reduce GHG emissions and increase the use of renewable energy

Currently, industrial production of biofuels is dominated by first and second generation processes, respectively. Limiting the use of agricultural land for the production of biofuels, starting in 2008, initiated the gradual transition to second and third generation processes, which are associated with significant changes in the supply of raw materials and logistics, as well as the implementation of technology (e.g. , market penetration of advanced biofuels).

Technical process development for third- and fourth-generation biofuels is advancing rapidly in academia and start-up environments, but large-scale industrial implementation lags behind.

This indicates a profound gap in the transfer of technologies from a pilot scale to an industrial scale. To this end, legislators must address clear and implementable criteria for the industrial technological transition to advanced biofuels with a notable climate impact.

EU policies on biofuels are struggling in Europe.

In the past, one of the biggest barriers to industry adoption of new biofuel technologies, at least in the EU, was the ever-changing regulatory and regulatory framework, which eventually led to waves of market consolidation and of companies for first-generation fuels such as agricultural crops (biodiesel, bioethanol based on corn and sugar beet, and more recently, biogas products based on corn).

It is therefore of utmost importance that policy makers provide clearly formulated, long-term stable policies, provisions and regulatory frameworks to enable the industrial transition to advanced biofuel technologies with clear climate impact.

The production of advanced biofuels requires huge capital investment. At EU level, there are already specific funding mechanisms, such as the European Innovation Council (EIC) identifier, the EIC Transition and the EIC Accelerator, which aim to enable and accelerate the scale-up trajectory of new technologies towards market entry.

Although this is an initial step towards the implementation of new biofuel technologies, these measures do not translate into national actions and legislation at Member State level, which hinders the regional mobilization of capital, leading to slow adoption and implementation of new technologies. Statistically, moving the technology from academia to the pilot plant level often required time periods exceeding 5 to 7 years and significant financial resources.

To motivate EU private capital to accept development risks and extended timescales for return on investments in biofuel start-ups, governments could implement the removal of fees for venture capital spent.

This risk reduction guided by capital investment legislation in new technologies is already being implemented in the United States and the United Kingdom. The EU therefore needs to quickly implement such legislative tax breaks to ensure innovation in biofuels and other innovation and sustainability-based sectors for added economic value and a vibrant job sector.

Since the time for action is already late, it is critical that we act now by implementing the tools and technologies we have at our disposal today. The only way to enable energy security and climate-efficient mobility is to implement available technologies on a global scale right now.

The global deployment of large-scale production infrastructure for sustainable (bio)technologies to jump-start the production of renewable energy carriers and sustainable commodities is imperative in this timely development scenario.

This fundamental transition to sustainable bio-based technologies will require long-term legislative guidance based on huge capital investments in the private and government sectors. However, it will be the only way to limit the effects of climate change and provide livelihoods for future societies.

Dumitru Chisalita-President