Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

comments

354 Comments

New research concerns the ecological effect of rising imports of utilized cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.

Chip fat and other oils are considered waste, so when they are utilized to make biodiesel it conserves 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 other way to show these imports are sustainable.

With no screening of what's being available in, experts believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports may improve deforestation

Consumers pose 'growing danger' to tropical forests

Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be among the hardest obstacles for federal governments all over the world.

They have actually motivated the use of biofuels as an essential ways of curbing carbon from vehicles and trucks.

Biofuels are generally a blend of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or vegetables.

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

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

So for the last decade or two, making use of used cooking oil has actually expanded massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become an essential element of biodiesel with a reliable market across Europe to gather and process the product.

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year because 2014, there simply isn't enough 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 research study recommends this is extremely troublesome when it comes to influence on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste product 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 countries 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 nations aren't readily available but the circulation of UCO is most likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to three litres per head of utilized oil that's gathered and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

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

"Because we are buying it, they have less used cooking oil to use on the things that they were previously using it for," stated Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

"And they're just purchasing more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mainly palm oil, because that's the most affordable oil offered.

"So indirectly, we're simply motivating more deforestation in Southeast Asia."

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of need from Europe, the cost of UCO is frequently higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous traders are merely diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is performed, some specialists believe 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 accreditation plans in place.

"It is commonly understood that the European Commission has actually taken pertinent steps to entirely suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He states a brand-new database being established by the EU will guarantee that trading, accreditation and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.

"The mix of revised certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability concerns emerge in the whole 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 explains that with shipping and aviation looking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO could double over the next decade.

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and dangers of utilizing 'phony' UCO, potentially causing indirect effects such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

Related topics

COP26

Paris climate agreement

Climate