Study on “Modalities to foster use of renewable energy sources in the transport sector by the Energy Community Contracting Parties”

Client: Energy Community Secretariat

Name of partner(s): Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik GmbH (LBST), Germany – Leader of the Consortium, E4tech UK Ltd., United Kingdom and CENN, Georgia

Start/Completion Date: December 2019 – November 2020

Project description: In this assignment, the current status of renewable energy use in transport (RES-T) in the Contracting Parties to the Energy Community is reviewed. On this basis, roadmaps for each of the Contracting Parties for increasing the renewable share in transport to a level compliant with the recast of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) by 2030 were developed. As none of the Energy Community Contracting Parties achieved the 2020 RES target of 10% in the transport sector, the Energy Community started to consider the implementation of the revised Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, together with the Clean Energy Package. According to Directive (EU) 2018/2001, the share of renewable energy within the final consumption in the transport sector must reach at least 14% by 2030. Within this 14%, the share of biofuels produced from food and feed crops is capped at 7%. However, for countries that by 2020 have reached only 1% or less (sustainable) biofuels produced from food and feed crops, their contribution to the 2030 target is capped at 2% of the final consumption transport. Currently, Directive (EU) 2018/2001 is not a part of the Energy Community acquis. The adoption and transposition by the Contracting Parties is, however, envisaged. All Contracting Parties except Albania have a biofuel consumption below 1%, and therefore crop-based biofuels shall be limited to 2%. Other fuels from renewable sources (advanced biofuels – beyond 1st generation, RES electricity in e-mobility and rail sectors and hydrogen – including hydrogen derived fuels) have to make major contributions to the 2030 targets in transport. The transport sector has to be considered within the overall framework and strategy towards GHG emissions reduction. In view of the above, the Energy Community Secretariat launched this project of technical assistance and commissioned a consortium of LBST, E4tech and S.E.E.C. to:

1) Review the current status of use of renewable energy sources in the transport sector by the Energy Community Contracting Parties and assess potential of renewable energy sources, for each Contracting Party, to be used by transport sector to meet the 2030 target, in line with Directive (EU) 2018/2001 (Task 1 and 2);

2) Review best practices from EU Member States and beyond, on a more global scale, that show a successful track record of increasing RES in the transport sector - (Task 3);

3) Provide a concrete set of recommendations to each Energy Community Contracting Party on how to increase the renewable energy share in the transport sector by 2030, keeping in mind that none of the Contracting Parties have more than 1-2% renewables in the transport sector and that they will have to go beyond 1st generation of biofuels (Task 4);

4) Develop a Roadmap up to 2030 outlining priority actions to increase usage of renewable energy sources in the transport sector for each Contracting Party, assuming that the target should be set as for EU Member States (Task 4);