Assessment of the potential for new feedstocks for the production of advanced biofuels: ENER C1 2019-412 Final Report

The Recast of the EU Renewable Energy Directive (EU RED II) sets a target for the use of biofuels produced from feedstocks listed in Annex IX. New feedstocks may be added to Annex IX by the European Commission, provided that they meet specific criteria (Article 28(6) of EU RED II) and have a limited risk of fraud. This project shortlisted 30 feedstocks from approximately 130 candidates and evaluated them against the Article 28(6) criteria and a set of fraud risk indicators to assess their potential eligibility for inclusion in Annex IX. The evaluation resulted in seven feedstock categories being marked as of no “particular concern” regarding Art 28(6) criteria, while ten categories raised “significant concerns” in one or more criteria. The rest of the shortlist was marked as having “some concerns”, where the overall level of risk might be considered acceptable or where a risk would only materialise in certain conditions. In addition, several categories were evaluated as presenting an overall low/low-medium risk of fraud. High fraud risks were detected when the physical nature of feedstocks cannot be readily identified or when their definition as co-product, residue or waste is not clearly established. The Consortium proposed several recommendations as to how to mitigate these fraud risks.