Reduced duties on sustainable ethanol
“The EU has agreed to a request from SEKAB for continued lower import duties on the ethanol imported from Brazil for use in E85 and ED95 fuels, a decision we view as a major step forward,” says Anders Fredriksson, President of SEKAB BioFuels & Chemicals. “The decision means that the market for both E85 for cars and ED95 for busses and trucks can continue to be developed”.
“The EU has agreed to a request from SEKAB for continued lower import duties on the ethanol imported from Brazil for use in E85 and ED95 fuels, a decision we view as a major step forward,” says Anders Fredriksson, President of SEKAB BioFuels & Chemicals. “The decision means that the market for both E85 for cars and ED95 for busses and trucks can continue to be developed”.
The EU’s decision on reduced duties is conditional upon the ethanol being verified as sustainable, which is the type of ethanol that Swedish Bioenergy Company SEKAB has been importing for almost a year. This ethanol from Brazilian sugar cane is quality assured from an environmental, social and ethical perspective, among other things.
“It is inspiring to note that our goal-oriented sustainability work has now won acceptance at the political level within the EU,” says Anders Fredriksson. “The verified sustainable ethanol is a first step in a vital process towards new general sustainability criteria of the EU. Up until then, it is fair that the lower tariffs are coupled with sustainability requirements”.
The decision means that the EU will maintain different import duties for ethanol with low level mixture and higher mix content in E85 and ED95. The EU is allowing sustainable Brazilian ethanol to be classified as a chemical product when used in E85 and ED95, exempting it from much higher taxes reserved for agricultural imports.
The reason is to enable E85 and ED95 to compete with petroleum and diesel that are in principal duty free.
The EU decision encompasses the coming 12 months and will be re-evaluated at the end of that period.
For more information, please contact:
Anders Fredriksson, President, SEKAB BioFuels & Chemicals, +46 70 610 11 77
Kristina Nilsson, communications manager, SEKAB, +46 70 274 99 01
E-mail: kristina.nilsson@sekab.com
Read more about verified sustainable ethanol at www.hallbaretanol.se
Read about the Sustainable Bio-ethanol Award, the global prize SEKAB was awarded for its initiative: Verified Sustainable Ethanol www.sekab.com
The logotype for Verified SUSTAINABLE ETHANOL as well as photo’s of Anders Fredriksson can be downloaded from the pressroom at www.sekab.com
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