Transport

Biofuel suppliers fail to meet UK sustainability standards

Biofuel suppliers including Chevron, Murco and Topaz are failing to meet environmental standards for sustainability set by UK regulator, the Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA).

In its latest report on biofuel supplied under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), which sets a target of replacing 5% of the UK’s total fuel demand with biofuel by 2013/14, two companies – Morgan Stanley and Topaz – failed to meet all three of the Government’s performance targets.

The targets aim to have 30% of feedstock meeting environmental standards, a 40% saving on greenhouse gas emissions compared with traditional fuels and comprehensive data on at least 50% of the biofuel supplied to the UK market.

Chevron, Murco and Topaz did not report any fuel meeting the RTFO’s Environmental Qualifying Standard, while information supplied by BP, Murco and Prax could not be verified by the RFA.

Overall, four-fifths of the feedstock that form the basis of biofuel in the UK do not meet the Government’s environmental standards.

The only companies that met all of the Government’s targets for sustainability were ConocoPhillips, Greenergy and Mabanaft. ConocoPhillips and Mabanaft used accredited feedstock, while Greenergy undertook its own independent audit of the sustainability of its Brazilian sugar cane feedstock.

Mabanaft and Greenergy, along with a number of other companies, used waste such as cooking oil and other by-products to produce their biofuel.

“We have seen many companies meeting the challenge of sourcing their biofuels responsibly. However, too many are lagging behind and dragging overall performance down,” says the RFA’s CEO Nick Goodall.

The agency is also proposing to introduce a new way of determining the sustainability of biofuel to include the recommendations of the Gallagher Review, which call for biofuel feedstocks that cause indirect land use change to be avoided.

Biofuel suppliers will have to start supporting schemes such as using fertile but low value grassland for palm cultivation in Indonesia or integrating cattle grazing with soy or sugar plantations in Brazil, says the report.

“With mandatory sustainability criteria due to be introduced by the end of 2010, companies like Morgan Stanley and Topaz need to make a step change in performance,” urges Goodall.

For further information:
www.renewablefuelsagency.gov.uk/yearone

29 January 2010

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