BIKE

Biofuels production at low - ILUC risK for European sustainable bioeconomy

The recently issued Directive (EU) 2018/2001 introduces an exemption for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels certified as low ILUC-risk towards the phasing out requirement for high ILUC risk feedstocks. The respective delegate act defines as low ILUC risk: ‘fuels produced in a way that mitigates ILUC emissions, either because they result from productivity increases or they come from crops grown on abandoned or severely degraded land’. The aim of BIKE project is to support the European Commission in the foreseen revisions of Directive 2018/2001, by providing evidence, measuring and widely disseminating the market potential of low ILUC risk value chains for biomass, biofuels and bioliquids in Europe. The work will focus on three specific pathways to achieve low ILUC risk, sustainable value chains for advanced biofuel production, distinguished among the type of biomass, the cultivation and production mode. The project will map and evaluate both possible productivity increase for crops grown in cover cropping system, or on abandoned or severely degraded land, and the feasibility of a new biogas-to-liquid production route. The core activity of BIKE project will be to investigate on the reliability of identified low ILUC risk biofuels production routes, assessing the environmental, social and economic sustainability of proposed solutions. A detailed assessment of existing policy and legal framework, influencing the deployment of low ILUC risk value chains will also be performed to inform future policy and decision making in this area.