Improving the accounting of renewable electricity in transport within the new EU Renewable Energy Directive

This policy paper assesses whether the proposed accounting rules for electricity consumed in the transport sector in the draft new EU Renewable Energy Directive are consistent and whether they create appropriate incentives for the increased use of low-carbon energy in the transport sector. It gives an overview on the situation of renewable energy in the EU electricity market and highlights under which conditions the electricity consumption of electric vehicles and for the production of synthetic fuels can be assumed to be based on renewable electricity. The focus of the recommendations lies on an improved treatment of electricity in the proposed revision of the “blending obligation” on fuel suppliers in the EU. However, the suggestions in this paper also extend to the accounting of renewable electricity used in transport in the context of the overall renewable energy targets for the EU (and for Member States). One key proposal is that the existing system of Guarantees of Origin for renewable electricity should be extended by the introduction of “Guarantees of Origin Plus”, which ensure that certain volumes of renewable electricity supplied to consumers are truly additional. With this new instrument electricity consumers would be enabled to have an actual impact on the expansion of renewable electricity generation. The recommendations from this policy paper should be taken up in the current revision of the EU Renewable Energy Directive.