Recently, there have been two political events of different importance, which have marked the direction and the conditions of change.

Obama's Victory

Barack Obama has never made a mystery of his intention to continue with biofuels, giving more credit than the Bush administration to the future development of the second generation. The choice of former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, one of the architects of the policy of promoting ethanol, as Secretary of Agriculture is also important. Vilsack has also declared in favor and support of biofuels with a different origin than corn, such as those deriving from green panic, municipal waste and wood, and in favor of a greater liberalization of the sector by removing the protective tariff on Brazilian production. Given the role of the United States both in the increase of food prices and in the development of second generation biofuels (including algae), we must expect from President Obama a significant development but also a positive change in the promotion of biofuels.

Package 20-20-20 was approved by the European Parliament (EU 27) on December 17, 2008. Alleviating many of the demands of the Industry and Energy Commission of the European Parliament, which went back to incorporate Turmes, Spring 2008, the main changes introduced by the European Parliament are:

1. The 10% share every European country is to reach by 2020 is not to be covered by biofuels alone, but in general from renewable sources (Article 3);
2. The minimum greenhouse gas emission saving requirement compared to fossil fuels will be 35%, rising to 50% in 2017 (and 60% for biofuels produced in plants whose production started after 2017) (art. 17);
3. Renewable sources, including biofuels, will have to meet sustainability criteria, of the total cycle and in particular of the possible use of changes in destination of soils and vegetation that are high in carbon stock (and by placing restrictive criteria on the use of forest land and marshes ) (art. 17);
4. Only biofuels that meet sustainability criteria will be adopted, whether produced in Europe or showing recognized certificates of compliance with the principles of sustainability if imported (Art. 18);
5. It is confirmed that, in order to reach the required 10% share on the total fuel demand, the contribution of biofuels produced from waste, residues and lignocellulosic material will value double (art. 21), f); a constant monitoring of the impact of biofuels on food prices will also be required (Article 23).

Given this positive (as it is enlightening) preface to the development of biofuels it is also possible for Italy, which is one the most slow countries among the EU in the development of biofuels, to "get back on track": in 2007 Italy accounted for 12.5% of the European road fuel market (EU 25), but only for 2.2% of biofuel use.