Alternative Renewable Transportation Fuels are sustainable advanced liquid and gaseous transportation fuels produced by a wide range of feedstock and through innovative conversion technologies. The cost of ART Fuels is a key element for their large-scale market deployment, strictly linked to the price of the feedstock and the adopted conversion technology. Among the fuels considered as ART Fuels, we can list, in principle, fuels from thermochemical and biochemical conversion of lignocellulosic biomass, fuels from algae and microbial biomasses, power to gas/liquid fuels, solar fuels, fuels from industrial waste gases, fuels from municipal solid waste, plastic waste and refinery waste, co-processing of biomass intermediates in existing refineries etc.

The biofuel market grew up considerably in the period 2005-2012, with US, Europe and Brazil as leading consumers. However, the biofuel demand has slowed down over the recent years (2012-2014), indicatively the total EU biofuel consumption showed a decrease of 4.8% in terms of energy (Mtoe) over 2012 (data from: EU Farm Advisory System posts, Eurostat). On the other hand, the EU production increased its output by around 10% in 2012-2013. This slowdown of consumption follows the strong build-up in biofuel consumption between 2005 and 2010 and depends on a variety of different factors, including: the global economic crisis, the reduced increase in transport fuel consumption in several regions, the dependence on supporting policy and regulatory framework and the concerns on sustainability impact and public perception.

Recently (30 November 2016), the European Commission (EC) published a proposal to the EU Council and the European Parliament to recast the Renewable Energy Directive (RED; 2009/28/EC). Under the RED, Member States are required to source 10% of the energy used in road and rail transport from renewable sources by 2020. The recast of RED, the so-called RED II proposes a set of policy measures to achieve a 27% renewable energy share from energy consumed by the electricity, heating and cooling, and transportation sectors by 2030. RED II indicates that 6.8% of transportation fuels must derive from renewable sources by 2030, thus providing an opportunity for the wider utilization of ART-Fuels, including also renewable transport fuels of non-biological origin, waste-based fuels and renewable electricity. In particular, the Commission’s RED II proposal anticipates a sub-target of 3.6% of transportation fuels, that is part of the 6.8% mandate of the target, should be met by the use of advanced biofuels. This sub-mandate for advanced feedstocks should help to promote emerging technologies for biofuel production. To minimize the Indirect Land-Use Change (ILUC) impacts, the proposed RED II foresees a cap on the contribution of food-based biofuels towards the EU renewable energy target, starting at 7% in 2021 and going down progressively to 3.8% in 2030.