by Theo Kumah (Biofuels Digest) In the EU, ethanol’s direct greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) savings compared to fossil fuel have increased from 59% in 2014 to 64% in 2015, an increase of 8.5% against the 2014 figure, according to new industry statistics published by the European renewable ethanol association ePURE. The European renewable ethanol industry – Annual statistics report 2016*, independently audited by Swiss-based company Copartner, confirms that European ethanol is a low carbon transport fuel that can very significantly reduce average direct GHG emissions from petrol.
Another key finding of the report is that virtually all 99% of the agricultural crops and residues used to produce European ethanol in 2015 were grown in Europe, providing European farmers with what EPURE termned “a vital source of income at a time when the EU agriculture sector faces increasingly negative pricing constraints.” READ MORE and MORE (ePURE) download study