Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

remarks

354 Comments

New research study questions the ecological effect of increasing imports of utilized cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.

Chip fat and other oils are thought about waste, so when they are utilized to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the demand across Europe that imports now account for more than half of the UCO that’s made into fuel.

According to the research study, external, there’s no method to show these imports are sustainable.

Without any screening of what’s coming in, specialists believe it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might improve deforestation

Consumers present ‘growing threat’ to tropical forests

Reducing emissions from transportation is showing to be one of the most difficult challenges for governments all over the world.

They have actually motivated using biofuels as an essential methods of curbing carbon from automobiles and lorries.

Biofuels are typically a mix of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or veggies.

The fact that these crops can be re-grown and soak up more CO2 implies they cancel out the carbon emitted when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as commonly utilized as elements of biodiesel however this practice has been widely challenged since it encourages deforestation.

So for the last decade or two, using used cooking oil has actually broadened massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have become a crucial part of biodiesel with a reliable industry emerging throughout Europe to gather and process the product.

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year considering that 2014, there just isn’t adequate chip fat to go around.

According to a report from the campaign group Transport & Environment, external, over half of the UCO utilized in Europe is imported.

Their study suggests this is extremely problematic when it concerns influence on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been used to feed animals. The report raises the question of what individuals in these nations are changing the UCO with, when it is exported.

In 2019, Malaysia exported 90 million litres of UCO to the UK and Ireland. Figures for their exports to other European countries aren’t offered however the flow of UCO is likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that’s close to 3 litres per head of used oil that’s collected and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, managed to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

“Because we are purchasing it, they have actually less utilized cooking oil to use on the things that they were previously utilizing it for,” said Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

“And they’re just purchasing more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mostly palm oil, because that’s the least expensive oil readily available.

“So indirectly, we’re simply motivating more logging in Southeast Asia.”

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the rate of UCO is typically higher than palm oil. The worry is that some unscrupulous traders are merely watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no testing of the materials is performed, some experts think fraud is rife.

The tip of fraud anywhere along the chain of supply is declined by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who state there are robust certification schemes in location.

“It is widely understood that the European Commission has taken relevant actions to completely curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets,” said Angel Alberdi, EWABA’s secretary general.

He states a new database being developed by the EU will guarantee that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

“The combination of modified certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability concerns develop in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain,” he informed BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database idea, which was first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming believed scams.

The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and air travel looking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO could double over the next decade.

“Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and of utilizing ‘phony’ UCO, possibly resulting in indirect effects such as deforestation.”

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

Related subjects

COP26

Paris climate agreement

Climate