REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Quality of petrol and diesel fuel used for road transport in the European Union (Reporting year 2019)
Date: 2021-10-26
Institutions: Directorate-General for Climate Action, European Commission
Subjects: biofuel, diesel fuel, electrical energy, energy consumption, greenhouse gas, petrol, quality standard, reduction of gas emissions, road transport, sampling

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 26.10.2021  COM(2021) 961 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Quality of petrol and diesel fuel used for road transport in the European Union      (Reporting year 2019) {COM(2021) 950 final}  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

Quality of petrol and diesel fuel used for road transport in the European Union 
(Reporting year 2019) 

INTRODUCTION 

1. 
Pursuant to Article 7a of Directive 98/70/EC1 relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels 
(henceforth the "Fuel Quality Directive") and Article 5 of Council Directive (EU) 2015/652 
laying down calculation methods and reporting requirements pursuant to Directive 98/70/EC2, 
Member States are required to report annually on the greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of fuels 
and energy supplied in their territories. This reporting obligation applied for the first time for 
the reporting year 2017, following the application and transposition of Council Directive (EU) 
2015/652. This annual report comprises the data reported for the year 2019. 

Furthermore,  pursuant  to  Article  8(3)  of  Directive  98/70/EC  Member  States  are  required  to 
report on national fuel quality data for the preceding calendar year.  

This annual report summarises the information provided by Member States in relation to the 
above-mentioned reporting requirements. It is based on the data submitted by Member States 
to the European Environment Agency (EEA) for the year 2019. 

2. 

VOLUMES  AND  LIFE  CYCLE  GREENHOUSE  GAS  INTENSITY  OF  FUEL  AND  ENERGY 
TYPES 

Article  7a  of  the  Fuel  Quality  Directive,  in  conjunction  with  the  Council  Directive  (EU) 
2015/652, sets out reporting requirements concerning the following: 

 

 

 

the total  volume  of each  type of fuel or  energy  supplied for  road transport and non-
road  mobile  machinery  (including  inland  waterway  vessels  when  not  at  sea), 
agricultural and forestry tractors, and recreational craft when not at sea; 

the  life  cycle  GHG  emissions  per  unit  of  energy,  including  the  provisional  mean 
values of the estimated indirect land use change (ILUC) emissions from biofuels3;  

the  feedstock  and  the  biofuel  production  pathway  used  for  each  of  the  biofuels 
supplied on the territories of Member States. 

The Fuel Quality Directive obliges Member States to require fuel suppliers to reduce the life 
cycle GHG intensity of transport fuels, i.e., the life cycle GHG emissions per unit of energy 
from fuel and energy supplied, by a minimum of 6 % by 31 December 2020 compared with 
the fuel baseline standard for 2010 of 94.1 gCO2eq/MJ4. ILUC GHG emissions are not taken 
into account in assessing compliance with the minimum 6% reduction target. The Renewable 

1 Directive 98/70/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to the quality of petrol and diesel 
fuels and amending Council Directive 93/12/EEC, OJ L 350 of 28.12.1998, p. 58. 
2  Council  Directive  (EU)  2015/652  of  20  April  2015  laying  down  calculation  methods  and  reporting 
requirements  pursuant  to  Directive  98/70/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  relating  to  the 
quality of petrol and diesel fuels, OJ L 107 of 25.4.2015, p. 26. 
3  Directive  (EU)  2015/1513  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  9  September  2015  amending 
Directive 98/70/EC relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels and amending Directive 2009/28/EC on the 
promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, OJ L239 of 15.9.2015, p. 8. 
4  Council  Directive  (EU)  2015/652  of  20  April  2015  laying  down  calculation  methods  and  reporting 
requirements  pursuant  to  Directive  98/70/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  relating  to  the 
quality of petrol and diesel fuels, OJ L 107 of 25.4.2015, p. 26. 

1 

 
 
                                                           
Energy  Directive  (EU) 2018/20015 foresees  different  measures  to  address  ILUC including a 
cap on food-  and feed-based biofuels, with  its delegated act6 setting out detailed criteria for 
determining  high  ILUC-risk  feedstock  for  biofuels  to  be  gradually  phased-out  by  2030  and 
the criteria for certifying low ILUC-risk biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels.   

In  the  year  2019,  all  28  Member  States  as  well  as  Norway  and  Iceland  provided  data  on 
greenhouse gas emission reductions in the appropriate format. 

2.1  Greenhouse gas emissions and distance to 2020 target 

According to the data provided, the average GHG intensity of the fuels and energy supplied in 
the  28  reporting  Member  States  in  2019  was  90 gCO2eq/MJ,  which  is  4.3%  lower  than  the 
2010  baseline  of  94.1  gCO2eq/MJ.  This  corresponds  to  a  saving  of  54 Mt  carbon  dioxide 
equivalent  (CO2eq)  during  the  year  2019.  The  progress  achieved  by  fuel  suppliers  has  been 
limited between the years 2018 and 2019 with an improvement of 0.6 percentage points of the 
reported average GHG intensity of the fuels.  

Reported  data  for  2019  confirms  that  EU  fuel  suppliers  in  the  28  reporting  Member  States 
were  on  average  behind  their  objective  of  reducing  the  GHG  intensity  of  transport  fuels  by 
6% by 2020, compared  with  2010 (see  Figure 1).  It  is  to  be noted that,  in  2019,  the use  of 
upstream  emission  reductions  (UER)7  were  reported  for  the  first  time  by  Hungary  and  the 
United  Kingdom,  contributing  to  a  reduction  of  the  overall  GHG  intensity  of  about  0.2 
percentage points to reach 4.3% in total. The UER claimed by a supplier have to be quantified 
and reported in accordance with the requirements set out in Council Directive (EU) 2015/652. 
More  detailed  information  on  approaches  to  quantify,  monitor  and  report  on  UER  can  be 
found in a guidance note8. UER are expected to further contribute to the achievement of the 
reduction target in the year 2020. 

Furthermore,  progress  varies  greatly  across  Member  States  (see  Figure  1).  In  20  Member 
States, the reductions in  2019 still remain lower than the optional intermediate target of 4% 
that  Member  States  could  require  fuel  suppliers  to  comply  with  already  for  the  year  2017. 
Sweden and Finland are the only Member States having already exceeded the 6% reduction 
target  for  2020,  while  Croatia,  the  United  Kingdom  and  the  Netherlands  have  achieved  the 
largest  progress  with  more than 1.5 percentage points between 2018 and  2019.  At the same 
time,  Sweden,  Poland  and  Bulgaria  have  reported  somewhat  higher  GHG  intensity  in  2019 
than in the previous year. Further information can be found in the EEA Technical Report No 
2/2021 on ‘Greenhouse gas intensities of transport fuels in the EU in 2019’.  

5  Directive  (EU)  2018/2001  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  11  December  2018  on  the 
promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, OJ L 328, 21.12.2018, p. 82–209 
6 C(2019) 2055 final: https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/2_en_act_part1_v3.pdf 
7  ‘Upstream  emissions’  means  all  greenhouse  gas  emissions  occurring  prior  to  the  raw  material  entering  a 
refinery or a processing plant where the fuel is produced. 
8 https://ec.europa.eu/clima/sites/default/files/guidance_note_on_uer_en.pdf 

2 

 
 
 
 
                                                           
Figure 1: Reductions in GHG intensity of fuels achieved by EU fuel suppliers in Member 
States, 2010-2019 (Source: EEA) 

20%

18%

16%

14%

12%

10%

8%

6%

4%

2%

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2010-2018 GHG intensity reduction (excl. ILUC)

2010-2019 GHG intensity reduction (excl. ILUC)

2020 target

Indicative 2017 intermediate target

As  a  result,  almost  all  Member  States  need  to  take  further  action  swiftly  to  ensure  that  the 
2020  target  is  met.  There  are  several  ways  of  action  that  Member  States  can  take  in  this 
regard,  for example by  further expanding the  use of electricity in  road transport, supporting 
the increased use of biofuels (in particular advanced biofuels), incentivizing the development 
of renewable fuels of non-biological origin and reducing upstream emissions occurring before 
refining  processes.  Member  States  remain  obliged  to  ensure  that  suppliers  respect  the  6% 
reduction  target  after  the  year  2020  and  to  monitor  and  report  on  their  GHG  emissions 
intensity after that date.  

Furthermore,  the  Commission  has  put  forward  on  14  July  2021,  as  part  of  the  package  of 
measures  to  deliver  on  the  European  Green  Deal  and  the  increased  climate  ambition,  a 
revision of the Renewable Energy Directive9 proposing to reduce the GHG emission intensity 
of  transport  fuels  by  13%  by  2030  compared  with  the  2010  baseline.  This  proposal,  to  be 
discussed  in  co-decision  process,  would  repeal  the  6%  target  set  out  in  the  Fuel  Quality 
Directive in order to streamline legislation and avoid double regulatory requirements.  
Taking ILUC emissions into account10, the average GHG intensity of the fuels consumed in 
2019 in the EU was 2.6 % lower than in 2010. This corresponds to a saving of 33 Mt CO2eq 
during  the  year  2019.  According  to  Article  7d  of  Directive  98/70/EC  laying  down  the 
calculation  of  life  cycle  greenhouse  gas  emissions  from  biofuels,  ILUC  emissions  are  not 
taken into account in assessing compliance with the minimum 6% reduction target. 

https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/amendment-renewable-energy-directive-2030-climate-target-with-

9 
annexes_en.pdf 
10  For  this  calculation,  the  provisional  estimated  indirect  land-use  change  emissions  from  biofuels  were  taken 
into account as listed in Annex V of the Fuel Quality Directive. 

3 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
2.2 

Fuel supply 

This  section  provides  the  data  submitted  by  Member  States  on  all  fossil  fuels,  biofuels  and 
fuels of non-biological origin within the scope of the Fuel Quality Directive for road transport 
and non-road mobile machinery. 

Total fuel supply reported in 2019 was 13 675 petajoules (PJ), representing a small decrease 
of 3% compared to 2018. The fuel supply remained largely dominated by fossil fuels (94.4%) 
followed by biofuels (5.6%) and a very minor share (0.01%) of electricity (see Section 2.4). 
The  only  renewable  fuel  of  non-biological  origin  reported  for  2019  was  renewable  non-bio 
methanol reported by the United Kingdom at a  very small percentage in relation to the total 
energy quantity.  

The fossil fuel supply in 2019 remained dominated by diesel (56.1%; 7 665 PJ), followed by 
petrol (23.8%; 3 258 PJ) and gas oil (12.6%; 1 729 PJ). Liquefied petroleum gas and natural 
gas had a combined share of 1.8% (250 PJ) (see Figure 2). 

Figure 2: Fuel energy supply shares per fuel type in 2019 (Source: EEA) 

2.3 

Biofuel consumption 

The  total  biofuel  consumption  increased  slightly  from  732  PJ  to  771  PJ  between  2018  and 
2019.  It  continues to  be  dominated by  biodiesel  (fatty  acid  methyl ester,  FAME)  (68.3% of 
the  total  biofuel  consumption;  527  PJ),  followed  by  bioethanol  (14.4%;  111  PJ)  and 
hydrotreated  vegetable  oil  (HVO;  12.5%;  96  PJ).  Bio-ethyl  tert-butyl  ether  (bio-ETBE)  and 
biogas  accounted  for  3.4%  of  the  total  biofuel  consumption  (26  PJ).  All  other  biofuels 
represented a much smaller share (see Figure 3). The proportion remains stable compared to 
2018. Detailed information for all biofuels and pathways can be found in the EEA Technical 
Report No 2/2021. 

4 

 
 
 
 
Figure 3: Biofuel energy supply shares per fuel type in 2019 (Source: EEA) 

Other biofuel
1,5%

Biogas
1,6%

Hydrotreated 
vegetable oil 
HVO…

Bioethanol
14,4%

Bio-ETBE
1,8%

Biodiesel
68,3%

2.4 

Electricity consumption 

The  reporting  of  electricity  consumption  by  fuel  suppliers  is  voluntary  and  twelve  Member 
States  (compared  to  ten  in  2018)  reported  data  on  electricity  consumed  by  electric  vehicles 
and motorcycles (see Table 1). The total reported quantity of electricity consumed by electric 
vehicles  remained  relatively  stable,  standing  at  1  506  362  GJ  (including  powertrain 
efficiency).  

Table 1: Electricity consumed by electric vehicles and motorcycles in 2019 as a reported 
contribution by fuel suppliers to their GHG reduction target (Source: EEA) 

Member State 

Quantity of energy 

GHG intensity 

excluding 
powertrain 
efficiency (GJ) 
128 502 

1 467 058 

1 209 600 

5 779 

92 426 

229 605 

532 307 

42 430 

2 652 

1 854 

2 431 

51 261 

Bulgaria 

France 

Germany 

Hungary 

Ireland 

Italy 

Netherlands 

Portugal 

Slovakia 

Slovenia 

Sweden 

United Kingdom 

including 
powertrain 
efficiency (GJ) 
51 401 

reported by 
Member State 
(g CO2e/MJ) 
522.9 

reported by 
Member State 
(g CO2e/kWh) 
1 882 

586 823 

483 840 

2 312 

36 970 

91 842 

212 923 

16 972 

1 061 

742 

972 

20 504 

10.8 

147 

139.5 

127.5 

110.3 

154.2 

71 

46.4 

- 

13.1 

5.6 

39 

529 

502 

459 

397 

555 

256 

167 

- 

47 

20 

3. 

OVERVIEW OF THE 2019 FUEL QUALITY DATA IN THE EU 

According to Article 8 of the Fuel Quality Directive, all Member States, as well as Norway, 
submitted reports on national fuel quality data for the year 2019.  

5 

 
 
 
 
  
This  section  provides  the  data  for  petrol  and  diesel  sales,  and  the  bio-components  included 
therein,  for  road  transport  reported  by  all  EU  Member  States.  It  excludes  other  fossil  fuels, 
other  biofuels  and  fuels  of  non-biological  origin,  as  well  as  fuels  used  for  non-road  mobile 
machinery.  

3.1 

Petrol and diesel and biocomponent content  

The share of diesel as compared with petrol sales has increased over the years, from 55.6% of 
total sales in 2001 to 72% in 2019. This reflects to a large degree the increasing dieselisation 
of  Europe’s  vehicle  fleet  during  that  period.  However,  this  share  remains  stable  since  2017 
(see Table 2).  

Table 2: Diesel and petrol fuel sales (in million litres and their respective shares) in 2017, 
2018 and 2019 

Diesel fuel sales 

270 668 (72.3%) 

271 018 (72.3%) 

272 026 (72%) 

2017 

2018 

2019 

Petrol fuel sales 

103 766 (27.7%) 

103 856 (27.7%) 

105 866 (28%) 

Diesel  fuel  consumption is  dominant  in most EU Member States  except  for Cyprus, Greece 
and the Netherlands.  

The  majority  of  petrol  sales  in  2019  comprised  fuels  with  a  petrol  grade  research  octane 
number (RON) of 95, the share of which slightly decreased compared to 2018. The share of 
95 ≤ RON < 98 sales increased, and the share of RON ≥ 98 sales remained at a similar level 
as in 2018 (see Table 3). 

Table 3: Share of petrol sales according to RON numbers 

RON 95 

95 ≤ RON < 98 

RON ≥ 98 

RON = 91 

2017 

85.7% 

8.3% 

5.8% 

0.1% 

2018 

82% 

13.7% 

4.2% 

0.1% 

2019 

80.2% 

15.1% 

4.6% 

0.1% 

All diesel sold in the EU is marketed as containing biodiesel and nearly all petrol is marketed 
as containing bioethanol. In 2019, 77.1% of petrol fuel sold in the EU had up to 5% ethanol 
content by volume (E5)  which is by 7.2 percentage points less than in 2018, while 22 % of 
petrol fuel had up to 10% ethanol content (E10) which is almost double as much as in 2018,  
and 0.3% contained more (E+11). Of the diesel fuel sold, 99.2 % contained up to 7% FAME 
(B7) and 0.8% contained more (B+12) (see Table 4). 

11 E+ is petrol fuel with > 10% (% v/v) ethanol content  
12 B+ is diesel fuel with > 7 % (% v/v) biodiesel content 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Table 4: Use of biocomponents in petrol and diesel fuels sold in the EU in 2017-2019 

Fuel type 

E0 

E5 

E10 

E+ 

B0 

B7 

B+ 

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2017 

12.2% 

71.9% 

15.7% 

0.1% 

0.0% 

83.8% 

16.2% 

2018 

4.1% 

84.3% 

11.4% 

0.2% 

0.0% 

99.2% 

0.8% 

2019 

0.6% 

77.1% 

22.0% 

0.3% 

0.0% 

99.2% 

0.8% 

3.2 

Compliance of sold fuels with quality limits 

Overall in the EU, a high compliance with the fuel quality limits is observed. The very large 
majority  of  key  fuel  parameters  in  the  samples  taken  in  2019  were  reported  within  the 
tolerance limits. 

Lithuania,  Slovenia  and  Sweden  verified  and  reported  full  compliance  for  both  petrol  and 
diesel  fuels.  Five  Member  States  verified  and  reported  full  compliance  for  petrol  (Ireland, 
Lithuania,  Malta,  Slovenia  and  Sweden),  and  eleven  for  diesel  (Austria,  Croatia,  Denmark, 
Estonia,  Finland,  Lithuania,  Romania,  Luxembourg,  Portugal,  Slovenia  and  Sweden).  One 
Member State (Belgium) reported more than 200 non-compliances for petrol and 88 for diesel 
in  2019,  yet  this  represents  a  small  fraction  of  the  overall  number  of  samples  taken  in 
Belgium, which is around 8000. 

Member States reported a total of 424 cases of non-compliance for petrol and 134 for diesel 
for  2019.  For  petrol,  the  most  common  parameters  falling  outside  the  specifications  were 
summer vapour pressure (in seventeen Member States), research octane number (RON, in ten 
Member States), motor  octane number  (MON, in  three  Member States)  and sulphur content 
(in  four  Member  States).  For  diesel,  the  most  common  parameters  falling  outside  the 
specifications were the sulphur content (in thirteen Member States) and the FAME content (in 
eleven Member States).  

All Member States described the actions taken when non-compliant samples were identified. 
These  actions  included  informing  the  competent  authorities,  initiating  investigations, 
imposing penalties and fines, and resampling. In a small number of cases, no action was taken 
where the non-compliant parameters were found to be very close to the tolerance limits. 

There was therefore no need for the Commission to launch any investigation in this area.  It 
can  be  concluded  that  the  fuel  quality  monitoring  system  in  place  ensures  that  high  quality 
fuels are sold in the EU in accordance with the requirements of the Fuel Quality Directive.  

7