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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns 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 utilized to make biodiesel it conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

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

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

Used cooking oil imports might boost deforestation

Consumers present 'growing risk' to tropical forests

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

They've encouraged the use of biofuels as a crucial means of curbing carbon from vehicles and trucks.

Biofuels are typically a blend of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or vegetables.

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 implies they cancel out the carbon released when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as commonly utilized as components of biodiesel however this practice has actually been widely challenged due to the fact that it encourages deforestation.

So for the last decade or two, using used cooking oil has broadened enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being an essential part of biodiesel with an effective market 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 considering that 2014, there merely isn't enough chip fat to walk around.

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

Their study suggests this is extremely problematic when it concerns effect on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the concern of what people in these countries are replacing the UCO with, when it is exported.

In 2019, 90 million litres of UCO to the UK and Ireland. Figures for their exports to other European countries aren't offered 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 collected and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, handled to collect around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is mostly palm oil, since that's the most affordable oil readily available.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the cost of UCO is typically higher than palm oil. The concern is that some dishonest traders are simply watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the materials is performed, some professionals think fraud is swarming.

The idea of fraud 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 widely understood that the European Commission has taken pertinent steps to completely curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

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

"The mix of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability problems develop 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 be reliable in stemming thought scams.

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

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and dangers of using 'phony' UCO, possibly causing indirect effects such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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