Tag Archives: france
€6 Million Funding For French Biomass Project
13 November 2013 DEINOVE, a developer of chemical compounds from biomass using Deinococci bacteria, has announced that its plant chemistry development programme will receive nearly €6 million from the French government. The DEINOCHEM programme aims to produce a new generation of chemical compounds to replace petro-sourced chemicals. Using Deinococci bacteria, these new compounds are made from non-food biomass such as wheat straw, corn stover and cobs, energy crops, and industrial and urban waste. “We are delighted to support this internationally-ambitious French industrial project,” said Arnaud Montebourg, French minister of industrial renewal. “ DEINOVE was founded in France and works on developing solutions for tomorrow with breakthrough technologies . which are included as part of French innovations that need to be heavily supported in order to join the world-wide race.” “This is one of the highest levels of financial backing ever granted in plant chemistry from the French government,” said Emmanuel Petiot, CEO of DEINOVE. “Our country has clearly placed biotechnologies at the heart of its industrial innovation programme.” Europe is the world’s second largest agricultural producer and France is the top agricultural producer in Europe. Continue reading
Biofuels Producers Hunting Foreign Fields
With nearly 70% of global biofuels production centered on the United States’ corn and Brazil’s sugarcane harvests, concentrated commodity feedstocks have been the common denominator in biofuels industry growth over the past decade. Advanced biofuels companies seeking to produce next-generation fuels derived from non-food feedstocks are attempting to replicate this model – without the associated social and environmental ramifications of using food-based crops. Access to land for mass feedstock production is a difficult challenge for which many innovative strategies have been proposed. Companies like SG Biofuels , Ceres , and others are squarely focused on biotechnology innovation, involving complex biological modifications at the crop’s cellular and genetic level. The central focus of these efforts is the optimization of dedicated energy crops for growth in a variety of locations where food crops are not currently grown, including poor soils and areas lacking irrigation. Among these, jatropha, camelina, energy grasses like miscanthus, and dedicated trees like eucalyptus have received the most attention. But optimizing crop strains to thrive in a variety of climates and soils is only half the battle. Recent experience has shown that the success of even miracle next-generation feedstocks like jatropha , which can produce oil-rich seeds in poor soils and without irrigation, is exaggerated. As with food crops, bountiful energy crop harvests (i.e., lots of biomass material for biofuels production) require irrigation, nutrients – and plenty of land. Land Ho! Finding suitable tracts of land with nutrient-rich soil and irrigation for which a large quantity of crops can be grown – but without diverting land otherwise dedicated to food production (see The New York Times blog on food vs. fuel ) – remains an elusive goal. Increasingly, governments and corporations are looking abroad. Since the food crisis of 2007-2008 , foreign direct investment into countries with undeveloped agricultural potential has accelerated. According to data compiled by the Oakland Institute , an estimated 56 million hectares of land (nearly the size of France) has been acquired in the developing world by international governments and investors since 2008. Last month, China announced that it will invest billions of yuan into 3 million hectares (7.5 million acres) of farmland in Ukraine, its biggest overseas agricultural project. This will more than double China’s current portfolio of 2 million hectares (5 million acres), mostly concentrated in Latin America and Southeast Asia. China is not alone in this quest. According to a policy paper published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center, “One of the largest and most notorious deals is one that ultimately collapsed: an arrangement that would have given the South Korean firm Daewoo a 99-year lease to grow corn and other crops on 1.3 million hectares of farmland in Madagascar – half of that country’s total arable land.” Government and institutional investors across other developed economies, including Japan, the United States, the European Union, and wealthy Gulf states, are all actively involved in this rush. Complicated by the checkered history of international land grabs, this trend is not without its critics. Balancing Objectives While intentions may be in the right place in most instances, the past has shown that the consolidation of cultivatable land for foreign or multinational interests can often lead to the displacement of local subsistence farmers, as well as other negative environmental impacts. In recent years, governments have, at least publicly, imposed more restrictions on biofuels investments abroad to prevent a scramble toward destructive plantation-style feedstock cultivation. The EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED) mandates that member states derive 10% of energy consumption within the transportation sector from renewable sources by 2020. Recently signed legislation caps the contribution of conventional food-based biofuels , calling for a rapid switch to advanced biofuels. A slew of sustainability standards , meanwhile, aim to mitigate the negative impacts of large-scale dedicated energy crop production for advanced biofuels. In Navigant Research’s recently published report, Advanced Biofuels Country Rankings , issues such as available arable land and the potential for sustainable feedstock hubs figure heavily into assessments of the potential of individual countries to support advanced biofuels commercialization. At one time regarded as an issue exclusively focused on conventional biofuels, access to land for advanced biofuels production is proving equally sensitive. Continue reading
House Rules: Property Law And Tax Breaks In France
http://www.ft.com/cm…l#ixzz2iRxQz9FB By Raphaël Béra and Fiona Larcombe, of international law firm SJ Berwin 1. New French property tax Foreign residents who want to sell French property have a one-off chance of a big tax saving if they act quickly. So what’s changed? Over the summer, the French Tax Administration brought in new rules to reduce tax on capital gains on French real estate. As well as long-term reductions in tax rates, there is a one-off allowance of 25 per cent on capital gains from the sale of properties between September 1 2013 and August 31 2014. Why this reform? At present, capital gains on French property are only exempt from tax after 30 years of ownership, which discourages people from selling. The French government hopes that the new rules will stimulate the housing market, encourage more sales and reduce prices. Who will benefit? Individuals who own French real estate. The new regime also applies where French property is owned by a tax transparent entity. It does not apply to companies that are subject to corporate tax and own French property, who will still pay French corporate income tax at a basic rate of 33.33 per cent. Are any types of land excluded? Yes. The new rules do not apply to capital gains on the sale of building plots. What are the main changes? Currently, capital gains made on French real estate by people resident outside France are subject to French income tax, specific taxes on high gains (up to 6 per cent on gains above €50,000), and high income (up to 4 per cent on income above €250,000), and social contributions. The new regime increases annual allowances with each year of ownership and applies them faster. Allowances start after the fifth year of ownership and increase annually. After 22 years, capital gains are exempt from income tax, eight years earlier than under the old rules. What about social security contributions? Since August 17 2012, owners of French real estate who are not resident in France have been subject to French social security contributions at 15.5 per cent on real estate capital gains. The allowance applied before calculating these contributions has also changed, so that contributions decrease annually after five years’ ownership, until the property owner becomes exempt after 30 years. The imposition of French social security contributions on non-residents is, in any case, questionable, because they pay social security contributions in their own country, and the regime was recently challenged by the EU Commission. People resident outside France who are asked to pay social security contributions should consider filing tax claims against the French tax authorities. Act quickly. To take advantage of all the new allowances, property sales should be completed by August 31 2014. But bear in mind that the French tax system is complex. Property gains are subject to multiple layers of tax and social contributions, so you need an accurate calculation of your potential liability. . . . 2. Chancel repair liability and other ancient rights When I bought my house, my solicitor advised me to buy insurance against chancel repair liability. What was that for? Chancel repair goes back to the time of Henry VIII. It is the right for some churches to ask some landowners to pay for the upkeep of part of the church. It is an ancient right that still affects landowners in England and Wales today. In a high profile case that took 17 years to resolve, one couple was held liable to pay more than £200,000. There was nothing about it on the Land Registry records for my property, so why did I need insurance? Until October 13 this year, chancel repair liability could affect a property owner even if it was not registered at the Land Registry, so people often bought insurance just in case. The historical records are unreliable, so it was hard to be certain about which properties were affected. So that’s why I’ve read about the Church suddenly registering rights over people’s land. What changed on October 13? Today, chancel repair should only affect people who buy a house if the Church has registered its right at the Land Registry. If there is no mention of chancel repair in the Land Registry documents at the time you buy, you can be fairly sure that you don’t need to worry about it. Can everyone forget about it then? Not quite. People who buy and should be safe, but those who become landowners without paying anything – by inheriting, for example – are still vulnerable. In those cases, it may still be sensible to investigate chancel repair liability and buy insurance if necessary. There’s been a rush to register rights to minerals in the subsoil below other people’s land? Yes, that’s true. The right of the “lord of the manor” to minerals has existed for hundreds of years but also had to be registered by October 13 in order to bind future buyers. It doesn’t mean whoever is registered will make a fortune if any valuable minerals are found. Oil and shale gas belong to the Crown, regardless of who owns the land. People who own or have rights over the subsoil may be able to charge for allowing access to investigate and extract minerals but so far, the courts have awarded relatively small sums. SJ Berwin is an international law firm. This column is written by Raphaël Béra, a partner in its Paris office, and Fiona Larcombe, a solicitor in its London office Continue reading
