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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions the environmental impact 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 used to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the demand across Europe that imports now represent majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.

According to the research study, external, there's no chance to prove these imports are sustainable.

With no testing of what's can be found in, specialists think it is likewise ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might increase logging

Consumers posture 'growing danger' to tropical forests

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

They've motivated making use of biofuels as a crucial methods of suppressing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

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

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 implies they counteract the carbon produced when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as commonly used as elements of biodiesel however this practice has been commonly discredited due to the fact that it encourages deforestation.

So for the last decade approximately, using oil has expanded massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being a key part of biodiesel with an efficient industry emerging throughout Europe to gather and process the item.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year considering that 2014, there simply isn't sufficient chip fat to walk around.

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

Their study recommends this is highly bothersome when it comes to impacts on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been used to feed animals. The report raises the question 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 available but the circulation of UCO is likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 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 individuals, handled to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

"Because we are buying it, they have actually less used 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 most affordable oil offered.

"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 cost of UCO is frequently higher than palm oil. The worry is that some dishonest traders are merely watering down shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the products is performed, some experts think scams is rife.

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

"It is extensively known that the European Commission has actually taken appropriate actions to completely 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 ensure that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The mix of modified accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability problems emerge 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 very first mooted in 2018, may not be efficient in stemming suspected scams.

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and aviation looking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO might double over the next decade.

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and risks of utilizing 'fake' UCO, possibly leading to indirect impacts such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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