WRITTEN QUESTION E-2078/00

by Eija-Riitta Korhola (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(27 June 2000)

Subject: Classification of fuels in the EU

According to a recently published report drawn up by the international scientific study group set up by the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry, peat as a fuel should be classified in its own category as a slowly renewable biomass fuel as distinct from the biofuels proper (e.g. wood) on the one hand and fossil fuels (e.g. oil and coal) on the other.

Peat is quite clearly a biofuel in terms of the way it is obtained, but its renewal time is significantly larger than that for other biofuels. However, as a renewable energy source it should be distinguished from non-renewable fossil fuels.

In the light of the most recent information on the matter, does the Commission feel the need to reconsider the earlier classifications and categories relating to fuels?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(11 September 2000)

The Commission is participating in the working groups of the United Nations economic commission for Europe on the international codification system for low, medium and high rank coal as well as the international classification of in-seam coals. Fuel peat is not included on this codification because peat is not considered as a fossil fuel.

At the same time, the Commission has given a mandate to the European committee for standardization (CEN) for the development of standards in the field of solid bio-fuels. The Commission mandate to the CEN is intended to encourage the development of renewable sources of energy in a contribution to put into practice the commitments taken at the Kyoto conference, by making use of biomass products from forestry and agri-foods industries. Peat is a solid fuel that takes thousands of years to form, which can hardly fit into this category, and thus it has been excluded from the mandate. This is in line with the Intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories under the United Nations framework Convention on climate change (UNFCCC), that do not consider fuel peat as an intrinsically renewable resource.

The Commission further considers that fuel peat has specific characteristics which makes it difficult to classify. As an organic material formed over several thousand years by the accumulation of plant debris under anaerobic water-logged conditions, peat contains most of the organic compounds of the original plants which formed it and could therefore be regarded as an organic based fuel. The present exploitation of peatlands must be considered within the context of the serious loss and deterioration of peatland areas that has taken place within the Community. In this respect, national policies that combine the conservation of significant remaining peatland areas with the exploitation of a relatively small part of the overall peat resource and an appropriate implementation of an after-use policy may, under particular conditions of no net loss of peatland values, have a neutral or positive life-cycle impact on overall greenhouse gas emission from peat production and use.

The role of peat as an energy source is further analysed in a technical and scientific study commissioned by the Commission, entitled Evaluation for the fuel peat industry in the enlarged European Union and carried out jointly by a number of peat research organisations in the Community. A copy of the study is forwarded to the Honourable Member as well as to the Secretariat general of the Parliament.