The European Commission's Low-Emission Mobility Strategy would lead to the "permanent loss of 133,000 rural jobs supported by the ethanol industry," Mark Turley, CEO of Ethanol Europe, said Wednesday.
Speaking at the Agro-Inno Show in Budapest, Turley criticized the Commission's plans to replace the current ethanol industry with advanced biofuel plants, with the view to providing 15%-17% of transport energy demand in 2030, according to their press release from July 2016.
This change in production would move the markets away from traditional ethanol, refined from corn, causing Eur 1 billion ($1.12b) worth of negative impact on the Hungarian GDP alone, according to Turley.
"To date, our operations have saved 1.5 million mt of fossil fuel gases from polluting our atmosphere. We buy a million tons of corn from local farmers in Hungary every year...Why anyone would want to abolish this industry is beyond me," said Turley during his speech.
Ethanol Europe have published figures stating that the yearly loss from the Low-Emission Mobility Strategy would amount to 30 million mt of feed corn and feed wheat demand for Europe's farmers; 13 million mt of CO2 savings which would equate to keeping 8 million cars on the road and Eur4 billion ($4.5 billion) in lost income for farmers, with all if this compounded by the permanent loss of 133,000 jobs.
Turley said Ethanol Europe would "pledge to fight the European Commission every step of the way and to stop their plan to abolish our industry."
Ethanol Europe are the owners of Pannonia Ethanol, one of Europe's largest bioethanol producers, and their plant in Dunafoldvar, Tolna County, in Hungary was expanded in 2015 to produce 450 million liters of ethanol annually.
