Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel
21 April 2021
comments
354 Comments
New research study questions 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 saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.
But such is the demand across Europe that imports now represent over 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 testing of what's coming in, experts think it is also ripe for scams.
Used cooking oil imports might enhance logging
Consumers posture 'growing threat' to tropical forests
Reducing emissions from transportation is showing to be one of the toughest difficulties for federal governments all over the world.
They have actually motivated the usage of biofuels as an essential ways of suppressing carbon from vehicles and trucks.
Biofuels are normally a blend of source and oil made from plants or veggies.
The reality that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 suggests they counteract the carbon emitted when utilized in engines.
Soy and palm oil were once commonly used as components of biodiesel but this practice has been commonly rejected due to the fact that it encourages deforestation.
So for the last years or so, the usage of utilized cooking oil has broadened enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.
Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a key part of biodiesel with a reliable industry springing up throughout Europe to collect and process the product.
But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there merely isn't sufficient chip fat to walk around.
According to a report from the campaign group Transport & Environment, external, more than half of the UCO utilized in Europe is imported.
Their study suggests this is highly troublesome 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 concern of what individuals in these countries are replacing 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 offered but the flow of UCO is likely to be similar.
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 comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, handled to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.
"Because we are purchasing it, they have less used cooking oil to utilize on the things that they were previously utilizing it for," stated Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.
"And they're just buying more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mostly palm oil, since that's the most inexpensive oil readily available.
"So indirectly, we're just encouraging more deforestation in Southeast Asia."
Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.
Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is often higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous traders are simply watering down shipments of UCO with palm.
As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the products is carried out, some professionals believe fraud is rife.
The idea of scams anywhere along the chain of supply is rejected by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who state there are robust accreditation plans in place.
"It is extensively understood that the European Commission has taken relevant actions to completely suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.
He states a new database being established by the EU will ensure that trading, certification and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.
"The combination of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability issues occur in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.
Others in the field are concerned that the database idea, which was very first mooted in 2018, might not work in stemming thought fraud.
The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and aviation looking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need for UCO could double over the next decade.
"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and dangers of utilizing 'phony' UCO, possibly resulting in indirect impacts such as logging."
Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.
Related topics
COP26
Paris environment contract
Climate
1
Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel
Junko Nesbitt edited this page 2025-01-14 15:52:09 +09:00