Biofuels

The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, energy dependence and replacement of fossil fuels led to the establishment of annual minimum targets for the sale or consumption of biofuels and other renewable fuels for transport purposes in current legislation. The obliged entites have been required to meet these targets since 2009. 

Biofuels and biogas are fuels produced from biomass, whose main purpose is to replace fossil fuels in the transport sector. 

Spain has a mandatory, regulatory mechanism to promote the use of biofuels and other renewable fuels for transport purposes. The Ministry for Transition Ecological and the Demographic Challenge is in charge of issuing certificates to obligated entities that prove they are meeting biofuel consumption or sales targets. 

In order to obtain certificates, obligated entites must meet the sustainability criteria, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, and various other requirements, as specified by the national regulations. 

CORES' functions were extended in May 2022 to include:

• Supervision and control of biofuel sale or consumption targets
• Assuring compliance with the sustainability criteria and greenhouse gas emissions reductions of biofuels and renewable fuels for transport purposes
• Monitoring the certification bodies (that carry out independent audits, under a voluntary regime or the national sustainability verification system) and the verification entities.

The obligated entities that operate in the biofuels sector, as they are exclusively entities that sell road fuels, are a subset of those that operate in the liquid hydrocarbons sector. In addition, there are so-called verification entities (logistics operators and production plants) that have the obligation to send information to the Biofuels Certification Entity. In this respect, synergies have been found in CORES activities related to biofuels and the maintenance of minimum security stocks.