The heat may soon be on the fuel suppliers as Europe moves closer to finalising a new fuel quality law which will require a reduction in full lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions.

The target for the fall, according to Environmental Data Services, is expected to be six per cent and should come from production efficiency improvements and a switch to biofuels and other clean fuels. Separate criteria for biofuel sustainability will be added once the new law is agreed on.

The six per cent cut must occur between 2010 and 2020. It has been met with support from EUROPIA, the European oil industry trade body although it repeated that the reduction should not apply to fossil fuels. The cut does represent a drop from the European Commission’s original target of 10 per cent.

The news comes as members of the European Parliament meet to debate the state of ongoing negotiations between Parliament, Council and Commission on climate change. The package lays down plans to cut the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020.

In particular, green cars will be the subject of debate with targeted reductions of 130g/km to be reached via improvements in technology.