Government proposes changes to law on biofuels, adopts energy efficiency report for 2017

The Croatian government has adopted a bill on changes to the law on biofuels, setting a 7% ceiling for the share of first-generation biofuels in the total direct annual energy consumption in transport by 2020, in line with the EU Directive 2015/1513.

Under the bill, the indicative national target of the share of advanced biofuels in transport is set at 0.1%, with an option of raising it next year, according to reports.

Obligatory biofuel suppliers that fail to ensure the required biofuel share in fuel supplies would be subject to an environmental protection fee. According to energetika-net, the bill’s adoption will enable imports of biofuels into Croatia.

An environmental protection fee would also be levied on obligatory suppliers that fail to meet requirements concerning cuts in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Compared to the 2010 levels, the emissions are to be reduced by at least 2% by the end of 2018, at least 3% by end-2019, and at least 6% by end-2020.

At the same time, the bill envisages requiring public transit and railway operators to use electricity produced from renewable energy sources only.

Progress report on achieving energy efficiency targets

The Croatian government has also adopted a report for 2017 on progress in achieving national energy efficiency targets, which shows that primary energy consumption rose by 1.7% in 2016 compared to 2015. The consumption of imported electricity went down 18.5%, biomass 0.4%, and liquid fuels 0.1%, while the consumption of energy from renewables rose 13.6%, coal and coke 7.6%, hydropower 6.5%, heat 6%, and natural gas 4.5%.

In 2016, the share of liquid fuels in total energy consumption stood at 32.3%, down from 35.7% in 2011. In the same period, the shares of natural gas and imported electricity also decreased, to 22.5% and 4.9%, respectively, in 2016. At the same time, the shares of other forms of energy expanded, with the share of hydropower going up from 11.4% to 16.2%, other renewables (wind, solar, geothermal energy, biodiesel, and biogas) from 0.7% to 3.1%, wood and biomass from 12.3% to 12.9%, heat “by 0.1%” to 0.2%, and coal and coke from 7.6% to 7.9%.

Alternative policy measures saw the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund (EPEEF) disburse HRK 277.7 million (about EUR 37.5 million) in subsidies to back a total of HRK 559.8 million (around EUR 75.7 million) in investments that saved 0.39183 PJ of energy and reduced CO2 emissions by 22,811 metric tons in 2017, according to the report.