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Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel

Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research concerns the environmental impact of increasing imports of used cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.

Chip fat and other oils are considered waste, so when they are used to make biodiesel it conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

According to the research study, external, there’s no other way to prove these are sustainable.

With no screening of what’s can be found in, professionals think it is likewise ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports might boost deforestation

Consumers present ‘growing hazard’ to tropical forests

Reducing emissions from transport is showing to be one of the hardest difficulties for federal governments all over the world.

They have actually motivated making use of biofuels as an important means of curbing carbon from cars 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 suggests they counteract the carbon emitted when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as extensively used as components of biodiesel however this practice has actually been widely rejected since it encourages logging.

So for the last decade or two, using utilized cooking oil has actually expanded enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being a crucial component of biodiesel with an efficient market springing up across Europe to collect and process the product.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year because 2014, there just isn’t enough chip fat to go around.

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

Their research study suggests this is highly bothersome when it comes to influence on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been used to feed animals. The report raises the concern 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 countries aren’t offered but the flow of UCO is most likely to be similar.

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

By contrast, 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 less used cooking oil to use on the important things that they were previously utilizing it for,” said Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

“And they’re just purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that’s the most inexpensive oil readily available.

“So indirectly, we’re just encouraging more deforestation in Southeast Asia.”

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

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

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the materials is brought out, some experts believe scams is rife.

The recommendation of scams anywhere along the chain of supply is rejected by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who say there are robust certification schemes in location.

“It is extensively understood that the European Commission has actually taken relevant steps to entirely suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets,” stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA’s secretary general.

He says a new database being established by the EU will guarantee that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be signed up.

“The combination of revised certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability issues arise in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain,” he told BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database idea, which was very first mooted in 2018, might not work in stemming presumed fraud.

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and aviation seeking 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 threats of utilizing ‘phony’ UCO, potentially causing indirect effects such as logging.”

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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