Transportation biofuels use in Europe is up again, thanks in large part to biodiesel. This article from the Brussels Times says biofuels for transport increased by 6.1 percent in 2014 in Europe, following a decrease in the previous year.
It still remains lower than in 2012. Consumption of sustainable biofuels reached its highest level with 12.5 million tep (Mtep – million-ton equivalent of petroleum). The increase in the use of biofuels for European transport is mostly due to biodiesel (+7.8%), whereas consumption of bioethanol remained stable (+0.1%). Biodiesel represented 79.7% of biofuels consumption, and bioethanol 19.1%, when taking into account the energy content (instead of the metric volume).
In Belgium, total biofuels consumption reached 387,599 tep. Biodiesel represented 90.5% of total consumption in 2014, and bioethanol the remaining 9.5%. Like in other EU28 countries, Belgian biofuels were certified 100% sustainable. In Spain and in Estonia this percentage was 0%.
Thus it seems that use of certified sustainable biofuels following criteria established by the European directive Renewable Energies, reached its highest level in 2014, with 12.5 Mtep, 89.4% of total biofuels consumption in the European Union, and 4.3% of EU fuel consumption.
The article went on to point out that oil companies will be some of the biggest drivers in the biofuels market, and they are already the biggest producers of biodiesel.