Assessment of mineral oil tax relief for synthetic fuels from biological methanation
At a glance
- Project leader : Matthias Stucki
- Deputy of project leader : René Itten
- Project team : Sarah Wettstein
- Project budget : CHF 19'542
- Project status : completed
- Funding partner : Federal government (Bundesamt für Umwelt BAFU)
- Contact person : Matthias Stucki
Description
The debates in 2004-2007 on the tax exemption of fuels from
renewable raw materials focused mainly on 1st generation fuels.
Consequently, the instruments are also geared to this type of fuel.
At that time, however, the legislator made it possible for fuels
from renewable energy sources to also benefit from the tax
exemption. At the time the revised MinöStG and MinöStV came into
force in 2007 and 2008, however, it was not foreseeable when such
fuels would come onto the market. Due to the large number of
possible production paths and fuels, it was decided within the
department to gradually develop the methodology for standardised
evaluation as soon as an application became more likely. In 2017, a
first application was evaluated by OZD and the FOEN. Within the
framework of the evaluation, the basis for a standardised
evaluation of a P-t-H2 application was laid, based on preliminary
work. Currently, an application for the production of methane has
been submitted. In this plant, methane, produced from carbon
dioxide and electrolytically produced hydrogen, is to be produced
by means of biological methanation. Therefore an extension of the
standardised evaluation is necessary.
In this project, the present application is now to be examined with
regard to compliance with the ecological requirements regarding
greenhouse gas emissions according to IPCC 2013 and the entire
environmental impact according to the method of ecological
scarcity. When assessing the environmental impact of the fuel
produced, various electricity sources in hydrogen production and
methanation will be taken into account, including CH grid mix,
hydropower, wind power and electricity from the municipal waste
incineration plant.
In a second step, the standardisation report "Leitfaden zur
Standardisierung der Ökobilanzen von Biotreibstoffen im Rahmen der
Mineralölsteuer-Verordnung" will be extended. All relevant aspects
in the production of methane by means of catalytic and biological
methanation will be included in the standardisation report.