Recycling and Utilisation of Carbon Dioxide in the European Union's Directives

Abstract

In September 2015, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a new directive (2015/1513) that amended two existing directives in order to bolster the production of advanced fuels, biofuels, and ``CO2-fuels'' in the transport sector. The combination of carbon dioxide and hydrogen (obtained by means of electrolysis with surpluses of renewable electricity) produces synthetic and renewable fuels that can easily be stored and transported in existing infrastructures. It is also possible to use CO2-enriched microalgae as a feedstock for biofuel. To the extent these advanced fuels can be substituted for fossil energy, they could be helpful in the context of climate mitigation and energy transition, provided the regulatory framework is geared towards such an ambitious purpose. Our comments address the relevance of legislative activity around such a strategy, mainly what kind of legal provisions are already taking shape at the European Union level. We discuss the ability of European directives to manage CO2-fuels and biofuels made from microalgae with CO2 enrichment. This subject is new, and the literature on related legal provisions is rare, thus the need to establish a reader's guide to the existing regulatory framework.