The European Union has not reached its own 2020 target to reduce greenhouse gas emission intensity of fuels sold for road transport to 6% below 2010 levels. Between 2010 and 2022, the emission intensity decreased by 5.6%, mostly because of the increased use of biofuels. Nine countries have succeeded in reducing their emission intensities by more than 6%.

Figure 1. Average greenhouse gas intensity of road transport fuels in the EU, 2010-2022

Average greenhouse gas intensity of road transport fuels in the EU, 2010-2022

Transport is responsible for more than 25% of the EU’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is a major contributor to climate change. Cutting emissions from transport is pivotal to achieving the EU target to become climate neutral by 2050.

To support a reduction in GHG emissions from transport, the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) set the target that fuel suppliers should reduce the emission intensity of fuels sold in the EU by 6% by 2020 and beyond, compared with 2010 levels. Relatively consistent reductions were achieved in 2018, 2019 and 2020, but the reductions have since stagnated around 5.6%.

The overall reduction in emission intensity of road transport fuels between 2017 and 2022 are mainly attributed to an increase in the use of biofuels. Biofuels have a lower emission intensity than fossil fuels. During this period, the share of biofuels in overall fuel sales grew from 4.5% to 6.6%. Furthermore, the emission intensity of biofuels has been falling since 2018 due to a small reduction in the use of oil-based crops such as palm oil and sunflower seed, which generally have a higher emission intensity than other feedstocks used for biofuel production.

It is important to ensure that rising demands for biofuels do not have a negative impact on land use by displacing the production of food and feed crops and driving the conversion of land, such as forests and wetlands, to agricultural land leading indirectly to increased GHG emissions. This is known as indirect land use change (ILUC). The FQD requires that Member States identify the feedstock from which their biofuels originate and that they estimate emissions resulting from ILUC for certain feedstocks.

Emissions from ILUC are not considered when assessing compliance of the 6% 2020 reduction target. If ILUC is taken into account, the average GHG emission intensity of fuels consumed in 2022 is only 4% lower than in 2010; it has been declining since 2018 because of the reduced use of oils crops, which are substituted by sugars with lower GHG intensity.

Figure 2. Average greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity reduction of road transport fuels in Member States, between 2010-2022

Progress towards meeting the 6% reduction target varies widely across Member States. In 2022, nine countries succeeded in decreasing their emission intensities by more than 6%, with Sweden and Finland achieving the highest reductions (26% and 10.5% respectively). This is because their road transport fuel mixes have relatively high proportions of biofuels (29.2% and 13.3%). On average, the biofuels used have relatively low emission intensities (9.5g CO2e/MJ, 16.9g CO2e/MJ, respectively).

The two Member States that reduced their emission intensities the least between 2010 and 2022 were Croatia (0.2%) and Latvia (1.6%). Both countries have a low share of biofuels in their fuel mix (0.8% and 1.9%, respectively) and much higher biofuel emission intensities (22.8g CO2eq/MJ for Croatia and 20.7g CO2eq/MJ for Latvia).

The effect that ILUC has on reductions in Member States’ emission intensities largely depends on the feedstocks used to produce biofuels. Oil crops, which have the highest emission intensity among biofuel feedstocks, are used extensively in several Member States, including Austria and Poland (88% and 85% respectively). If ILUC effects are considered, the GHG emission intensity of these biofuels is only marginally lower than diesel produced from fossil fuels (i.e. 82g CO2e/MJ in Poland versus 95.1g CO2e/MJ for diesel).