EU biodiesel firms blame politicians as demand falls

The European Union biodiesel industry is operating well below capacity despite top-level political moves to increase the use of biofuels to combat global warming, according to industry executives.

Biodiesel is more expensive to produce than diesel from fossil fuels, and it needs tax breaks or a legal requirement to blend it with fossil fuels at oil refineries to encourage its use.

Germany’s biodiesel industry is facing a crisis, with sales at gas pumps down by about 30 to 40 percent compared with last December, said Petra Sprick, chief executive of the biofuels industry association Verband Deutscher Betoningenieure, or VDB.

iht