From the 6th to the 8th of May, the Pau Motors Festival will propose an ambitious concept by showcasing races powered by low-carbon technologies such as electricity, hydrogen and low-carbon liquid fuels. The races, as well as all its associated events, will be testing lab for new automotive technologies, a hub to bring together innovators, manufacturers, constructors, car enthusiasts and users. The Pau Motors Festival aims to raise awareness among the general public and users of the challenges of transition and the technologies available for individual mobility.
In parallel to the competitions, the event will host European conferences dedicated to the energy transition for mobility, as well as a “New Energy Laboratory” and a “New Mobility Village” with numerous demonstrations of prototypes.
The availability and benefits of low-carbon liquid fuels are ignored by a vast majority of drivers and citizens.
Alain Mathuren, Communication Director at FuelsEurope
Reaching climate neutrality by 2050 requires every sector of the economy and society to significantly reduce its Green House Gases emissions. The transport sector which is responsible for almost 25 percent of Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions and has a critical role to play, but its decarbonization entails unique challenges. Transport is indeed the backbone of the French and European economy and we need to ensure the current transport system, while progressively decarbonizing, remains competitive, energy-secure and affordable.
The challenge of climate neutrality is colossal and there is not single solution. While electrification and hydrogen are important technologies for reducing transport’s GHG emissions, low-carbon liquid fuels can decrease now emissions from the existing passenger car fleet as well as from the hard-to-decarbonize heavy-duty road transport, aviation and maritime transport sectors.
The use of low-carbon fuels can reduce by up to 80-90% and more of CO2 emissions in the transport sector compared to conventional diesel or gasoline.
Alain Mathuren, Communication Director at FuelsEurope
The city of Pau in its ambition to be in line with the EU’s 2050 climate objective and do its share by reaching climate neutrality by 2040, decided to resume its historic race, the Grand Prix de Pau, with the forward-looking objective of reducing the carbon footprint of the event by the use of low-carbon technologies for all if the races.
Liquid fuels supply the world’s current transport system since more than 100 years thanks to their unequalled combination of qualities, from high energy density, easy and safe handling, extensive, resilient, already existing infrastructure for production, distribution and storage for use in all transport sectors.
Whilst conventional liquid fuels are made from petroleum, low-carbon liquid fuels are from non-fossil origin. These sustainably produced fuels produced from waste (e.g banana peels), sustainable biomass, renewables and captured CO2, emit no or very limited additional CO2 during their production and use. Moreover, they are climate-neutral because the limited CO2 they emit in the atmosphere is circular. It is the same CO2 that was absorbed by plants or captured directly from the air or other emission sources.
Low-carbon liquid fuels are the most efficient way to cut emissions from vehicles with an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE).
Alain Mathuren, Communication Director at FuelsEurope
These fuels will allow to reduce the GHG emission of the race while using the same cars and infrastructure. There are dozens of low-carbon liquid fuels projects and plants across Europe and in some European countries, they are already fueling hundreds of passenger cars.
The European refining industry is undergoing a transformation which, based on the strategy “Clean Fuels for All” developed by FuelsEurope and its members, could enable the production of up to 160Mtoe of low-carbon liquid by 2050. This represents around 40% of the European demand for fuels in transport (362 Mtoe in 2017). It demonstrates the European refining industry’s strong potential in contributing towards achieving Europe’s target of climate neutrality in transport by 2050.
