EU member nation subsidy programs

A number of EU member nations have implemented their own programs incentivizing biorenewables as part of the binding targets imposed by the 2009 Renewables Directive. A wide variety of program types are employed, ranging from feed-in tariffs to mandates to tax incentives. The United Kingdom’s (UK) Renewables Obligation establishes a mandate of 20% renewable electricity generation in the country by 2020 (Swinbank, 2009). The UK’s Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation also establishes a mandate for 5 vol% of UK transport fuel consumption to be derived from renewable sources by 2013. Germany initially took a different approach by levying a tax on fossil fuels that was not applied to biofuels before switching to a biofuels mandate in 2007 (Deurwaarder, 2007). The large majority of EU member nations encourage the production of biofuels via tax incentives, blending requirements, or a combination of the two (Pelkmans et al., 2008).