NETHERLANDS: CLOSELY MONITORING EU BIOFUELS

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000999 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV KGHG ENRG EUN NL SUBJECT: NETHERLANDS: CLOSELY MONITORING EU BIOFUELS SUSTAINABILITY LEGISLATION REF: A. STATE 123492 ¶B. THE HAGUE 820 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The Netherlands is very eager to see the EU complete its Energy and Climate legislation in the next few weeks. The Dutch Government agrees on the need for transparent, scientific standards in evaluating biofuels' sustainability. However, even within a collaborative U.S.-EU framework, the Dutch will likely continue to advocate for aggressive sustainability criteria. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) Following up on ref A points, EconOff discussed EU biofuels sustainability legislation December 1 with Steven Wonink of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning, and the Environment (VROM). (Note: Wonink coordinates the Dutch government's position on biofuels policy. End note.) He said the Netherlands is very eager to see the EU complete its Energy and Climate legislation in the next few weeks. If it does not, Wonink fears the package will be set back one year. ¶3. (SBU) Wonink said the Dutch Government, in principle, favors cooperation with the United States in setting common standards for biofuels sustainability but he was skeptical about existing efforts to do this. He referred to the two current technical-level U.S.-EU task forces: one on greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) calculations and the other on sustainability issues. He said Dutch representatives on the sustainability task force reported "limited progress" in their last meeting. ¶4. (SBU) Regarding the latest EU default emissions tables, Wonink said the Netherlands accepted the new GHG emission saving percentages but was waiting to see greater detail behind the calculations. He said that although the EU released the methodology used to derive the new percentages, other aspects (such as input values which help determine GHG savings) had not been released. ¶5. (SBU) Regarding the lack of a default value for U.S. corn ethanol, Wonink said this was not intended to limit U.S. producers' access to European markets. For those biofuels streams not included in the EU default emissions tables, producers could calculate their own GHG emission saving percentage based on the same methodology used in Annex VII of the draft biofuels directive. These producer-calculated values would then satisfy the requirements of European importers/end-users. CULBERTSON