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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions the ecological impact of rising 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 account for more than half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any testing of what's being available in, specialists think it is likewise ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might increase logging

Consumers posture 'growing risk' to tropical forests

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

They have actually the use of biofuels as a crucial means of curbing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were once widely used as components of biodiesel but this practice has actually been extensively challenged because it encourages deforestation.

So for the last years or so, making use of used cooking oil has broadened enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being a key component of biodiesel with an efficient industry emerging throughout 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 merely isn't adequate chip fat to walk around.

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

Their research study recommends this is highly problematic when it pertains to effect on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste material 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 countries aren't readily available however the circulation 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, managed to collect around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

"Because we are buying it, they have less utilized cooking oil to utilize on the things that they were previously utilizing it for," said Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

"And they're just buying more virgin oil and that virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that's the most inexpensive oil available.

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

Another significant problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is frequently higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unethical traders are simply diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the products is brought out, some specialists believe fraud is rife.

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

"It is widely known that the European Commission has actually taken pertinent steps to entirely 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 signed up.

"The mix of revised certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability issues develop in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

Others in the field are concerned that the database idea, which was very first mooted in 2018, may not be reliable in stemming presumed scams.

The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and air travel seeking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need for UCO might double over the next years.

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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