​2017 yet another record year for biofuels

Based on energy content, biofuels accounted for 20.8 percent of all fuels supplied for vehicle operations in Sweden in 2017. Biodiesel amounted to 26.6 percent of all diesel fuel, and a total of 19.5 TWh of biofuels was used, an increase from 17.2 TWh for 2016 according to preliminary statistics from SCB and compiled by Svebio.

"The figures show that Sweden is Europe's leading country when it comes to switching from fossil fuels to biofuels. Sweden has managed to double the share of biofuels in transportation in just three years. It is also encouraging to see that the use of fossil fuel, which had increased in 2016, decreased in 2017 to below the 2015 level" says Gustav Melin, CEO of Svebio.

The rapid growth of biofuels in recent years is mainly due to the increased use of HVO diesel produced from various bio-based raw materials, and HVO is now Sweden's most important biofuels. HVO supplies increased the most in its pure form, HVO100.

HVO is also used as a bio-component in gasoline, and HVO petrol (also called green gasoline) has shown a strong increase during the year. Deliveries of rapeseed diesel, ethanol and biogas are about the same levels as the year before. Biogas continues, however, and the proportion of biogas in vehicle gas increased to 87 percent.

"Sweden has had a fantastic increase in biofuels. But we have not exhausted all the possibilities yet. Taxation of ethanol and rapeseed diesel in recent years has held back the use of these fuels. Sweden has not introduced E10 gasoline that the EU standard allows. Thus there are good opportunities to further increase the share of biofuels and reduce climate impact from the transport sector," says Svebio's fuel expert Tomas Ekbom.

“The reduction obligation introduced by the Parliament (Riksdag) for gasoline and diesel from July 1, 2018, seems to slow rather than accelerate the development of biofuels. This is due to low ambition levels. It is therefore of the utmost importance that the authorities take into consideration the most recent statistics and adjust the levels accordingly and as soon as possible," says Tomas Ekbom.

For more information, please contact Tomas Ekbom, Svebio, +46-70-276 15 78