Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 5 July 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals - Net Zero Industry Act

Mr. Se?n Finan:

It is good to get that clarification.

I will make a couple of other brief points on some points that have been made about bioenergy. In terms of sustainability, we are governed very strictly by the renewable energy directive. There are specific chapters about bioenergy within that in terms of sustainability, and we are supportive of that. We feel, however, that the same sustainability lens is not placed on maybe some of the other sectors around the potential use of raw materials for the production of other types of renewable energies and so on. We do not want to get into that except to say that the renewable energy directive very specifically governs us from a sustainability perspective. We have concerns, no more than Dr. Walker mentioned, about unsustainable palm oil finding its way into the biofuel blend, and we strongly support mechanisms by Europe to introduce registers and to try to address some of the issues around that. I want to articulate very strongly, however, that, from an Irish production perspective and a biofuels perspective, and as I highlighted when I addressed Deputy Bruton's question, we do not have any members that produce hydrotreated vegetable oil, HVO. They are producing fatty acid methyl ester, FAME, biodiesel. They are producing that from waste fats and oils generated through the rendering sector, the meat production sector and that whole area, so they are completely and 100% sustainable. That material has no other use from the perspective that it is only utilised potentially for the production of FAME biodiesel. From our members' perspective, therefore, I want to highlight very strongly their sustainability credentials in that they use the waste product. As to why bioenergy has not received the recognition it deserves, the bioenergy sectors are booming across Europe in terms of biomethane, solid biomass and so on, and that is because their governments are actively supporting it and putting in place policy measures which encourage development and deployment. It has been recognised as a solution in its broad context. I take the point that there are limitations around feedstocks and resources, and we have specific things we can help to decarbonise, such as heavy-duty transport in terms of biomethane, high-temperate heat for heat pumps, which are potentially not an option. There are sectors where bioenergy can do a job, where there are not other technology options which potentially could do it. I very strongly make that point in response to a number of the comments made by some of our colleagues.

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