Frequently Asked Questions

The Advanced Feedstocks Alliance brings together companies from across the agricultural feedstock and renewable fuels value chain. It was established to support practical, evidence-based certification rules for intermediate crops and crops grown on severely degraded land. These feedstocks can broaden Europe’s renewable fuel supply, support farmers and the bioeconomy, and help contribute to the energy transition of European transport by providing a lower-GHG-intensity raw material to be used for renewable fuel production, while not creating additional demand for agricultural land.

Intermediate crops, such as catch crops and cover crops, are grown between two main crops, at a time when the land would otherwise lie fallow. They give farmers an additional harvest from the same field and contribute to protecting and improving soil health without displacing food or feed production or creating demand for additional land.

Crops grown on severely degraded land are annual or perennial crops cultivated on land that, for a significant period of time, has been significantly salinated, or has had significantly low organic matter content and been severely eroded. Such land is often unused, abandoned or unproductive, with limited capacity for food or feed production.

Examples include oilseed crops such as camelina, carinata, mustard, short season sunflower, and winter canola. Oilseed crops can be pressed to produce vegetable oil, which can then be processed through established HVO and HEFA technologies into renewable fuels for aviation, maritime transport, heavy-duty vehicles and agricultural machinery. The process can also produce valuable co-products, including protein-rich animal feed. Some perennial crops, such as nitrogen-fixing Pongamia pinnata can grow on severely degraded and marginal lands that are not suitable for food production.

These crops are already being cultivated through commercial programmes, agricultural trials and established rotations, although supply chains are at different stages of maturity. Studies (e.g. Concawe May 2026) have placed Camelina at Technology Readiness Level 7 and Carinata at TRL 6, putting them at pilot-to-demonstration scale. Short season sunflower is also currently being cultivated commercially, at small scale, as an intermediate crop between cereals in Italy and certified as an advanced feedstock. EU cover and intermediate cropping already cover up to 13.1 million hectares, around 7.1 million hectares of which overlaps with land considered biophysically suitable for productive intermediate cropping. Pongamia pinnata is widely researched. Aminah et al (2025) identified 1291 peer-reviewed research articles focusing on Pongamia pinnata use case and potential, largely focusing on bioenergy, soil restoration and agroforestry applications.

Intermediate crops use the period between main crops on land already within an agricultural rotation, while crops on severely degraded land use qualifying land with significantly reduced productive capacity. As such, they are cultivated on land that would remain fallow or would be non-productive. They do not replace the main crop or require additional land to be converted to agriculture. Crops grown on severely degraded land are annual or perennial crops cultivated on land that is often unused, abandoned or unproductive, with limited capacity for food or feed production. Cultivation of biofuel crops can contribute to restoring soil health and return land productivity on severely degraded lands.

For farmers, these crops can turn an off-season, fallow period or non-revenue cover crop into an additional harvest and income opportunity, while producing co-products such as animal feed. Intermediate crops can also keep living roots in the soil for longer, reduce periods of bare soil and add organic matter. Camelina-barley rotations in Southern Europe have been modelled to add approximately 43 kg of soil carbon per hectare each year, compared with 31 kg under continuous camelina. Perennial species, such as nitrogen-fixing leguminous Pongamia pinnata, can be grown on degraded lands. Pongamia is a multi-purpose tree that improves soil physical and chemical properties and stabilize soil through its root system.

European production can create a valuable domestic source of feedstock by integrating intermediate crops into existing rotations and cultivating qualifying severely degraded land, without generating additional demand for land. This can create new income opportunities for farmers, strengthen agricultural supply chains and supply European renewable fuel producers. Certified imports can then complement the volumes Europe can produce domestically.

Europe’s renewable fuel demand is expected to grow faster than domestic cultivation can scale. Certified imports are therefore needed to complement European production, not replace it.

They can provide additional feedstock volumes to support meeting growing demand while supporting Europe’s renewable fuel value chain through processing and refining in European facilities. Together, European production and imports can broaden the feedstock base, strengthen security of supply and support investment in Europe’s bioeconomy. Both must meet the same applicable EU sustainability criteria and certification requirements.

Intermediate crops and crops grown on severely degraded land are recognised under the Renewable Energy Directive, but legal recognition does not automatically make them certifiable in practice. A lack of clear operational rules, together with gaps between the RED and agricultural frameworks such as the CAP, makes it difficult for farmers, certification schemes and fuel producers to demonstrate compliance, invest and conclude long-term supply agreements.

The Alliance is calling for a robust, practical and evidence-based certification framework under the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive Implementing Regulation 2022/996. It should work for both European production and responsibly certified imports, recognise the crops’ verified sustainability performance and maintain strong safeguards against additional land demand and displacement.