Transport is responsible for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions in Spain, according to the latest National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC). Despite this, the prominence of renewable energies in transport decreased by 3.5% and stood at 9.68% in 2022, when Europe had established a target of 10% for 2020.
An insufficient network of chargers and an unaffordable price for a vast majority of consumers explain why the electric vehicle has not achieved the momentum that some expected. But it's not the only motive. “When the real consumption of biofuels and the real share of renewable energies in transport should be increasing substantially year after year to advance the essential decarbonization of transport, it turns out that the opposite is happening, which does not make any sense” laments Álvaro Mitjans, president of APPA Biocarburantes.
The consumption of biofuels for transportation has plummeted by 18% since 2019, even with the current obligation that diesel and gasoline contain a minimum of 10% biofuels. “We lack adequate regulation. The European Union is unnecessarily restricting raw materials that are perfectly valid to serve as a transition in the decarbonization process,” acknowledged Luis Cabra, general director of energy transition, technology, institutional and deputy to the CEO of Repsol. Much more so when the sector is obliged to reduce its emissions by 16.6% in 2030.
By then, electricity is expected to reign supreme in the light vehicle. In the heavyweights, leadership becomes complicated. “Hydrogen is the perfect technology to complement this electrification and also decarbonize heavy transport,” said Manuel de la Rocha, Secretary of State for Economic Affairs and G-20 during his speech at the Spain Investor Day that was held in Madrid at the beginning of of February.
Spain is the second country in the world with the most green hydrogen projects in the world: it has 20%, only surpassed by the United States. The State has also promoted H2Med, the first hydrogen conduit to connect with France and turn Spain into a net exporter of this star biofuel beyond 2030. Until then, a transition is needed that seems to go hand in hand with greenhouse gases. and renewable fuels.
Companies like Cepsa and Repsol, which are betting heavily on hydrogen and electrification, are also betting heavily on biofuels. It is now possible for users of combustion vehicles to replace fossil fuels without modification in their vehicles with 100% renewable substitutes for diesel, gasoline or kerosene, in the case of gas replacing natural gas or LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). ) by biogas.
"Currently, the most developed biofuels are those in which the molecule has biological origin, that is, biomass from agricultural, livestock, forestry waste, used oils that have zero net emissions because they offset the emission of waste. Synthetic biofuels can also be created with the capture of CO₂ and hydrogen, but the latter are more expensive to produce,” explains Óscar Barrero, Energy and Utilities partner at PwC.
These renewable fuels face a complicated duel between demand and need.
For the aviation sector they are essential. “The hydrogen airplane will not be a reality before 30 years. Even so, the production of SAF (the sustainable biofuel to power airplanes) in Europe barely reaches 1%, so large-scale production is essential,” claimed Luis Gallego, CEO of IAG (Iberia, Vueling, British Airways).
A large scale would compensate producers, according to the current decarbonization objectives for different fuels set in the Pniec. “If we want renewable fuels for aviation, we need to be able to also sell on the road,” warns Luis Cabra.
The problem on the road is that the sustainable fuel mumbo jumbo is far from clear. The truck manufacturer MAN Truck
