by Jeff Mason

BRUSSELS (Reuters), November 22, 2007 - The European Commission will propose rules requiring biofuels used in the European Union to produce at least a 10 percent saving of greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels, an EU official said on Thursday.

Leaders from the 27-nation bloc agreed in March to set a binding target for biofuels to make up at least 10 percent of petrol and diesel used by vehicles by 2020, a big rise from current levels of about 1.5 percent.

That goal is part of an overall aim of increasing consumption of energy from renewable sources across the bloc to 20 percent by the same year.

But the EU executive, under pressure from environmentalists, has said it would set specific criteria on biofuels used to meet that target to ensure that they are environmentally friendly.

Ewout Deurwaarder, an official in the Commission's energy division, said one of those criteria would include proving that the biofuel did not emit more climate-warming greenhouse gases than oil.

Specifically, the Commission floated a proposal of requiring biofuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 10 percent on a "lifecycle basis," meaning from production to actual use, Deurwaarder said.

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