Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel: Porovnání verzí

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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel


21 April 2021


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New research study questions the effect of increasing imports of used 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 need throughout Europe that imports now account for over half of the UCO that's made into fuel.


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


With no testing of what's being available in, specialists think it is also ripe for fraud.


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Reducing emissions from transport is proving to be one of the most difficult challenges for federal governments all over the world.


They have actually encouraged the usage of biofuels as an important methods of suppressing carbon from automobiles and lorries.


Biofuels are normally a mix of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or vegetables.


The truth that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 suggests they cancel out the carbon emitted when utilized in engines.


Soy and palm oil were once commonly utilized as parts of biodiesel however this practice has been commonly discredited due to the fact that it encourages logging.


So for the last decade approximately, the usage of used cooking oil has actually expanded enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.


Chip fat and other waste oils have become an essential element of biodiesel with an effective market springing up throughout Europe to gather and process the item.


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


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


Their research study recommends this is extremely problematic when it comes to influence on the environment.


While UCO is considered a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually 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 nations aren't available however the flow of UCO is likely to be similar.


With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 litres per head of used 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 five million litres of UCO in 2019.


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


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


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


Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.


Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is often higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous traders are merely watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.


As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no testing of the materials is performed, some experts believe fraud is rife.


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


"It is extensively known that the European Commission has taken pertinent steps to totally curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.


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


"The mix of revised certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability concerns occur 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, may not be efficient in stemming believed fraud.


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


"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and dangers of utilizing 'phony' UCO, possibly resulting in indirect effects such as logging."


Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.


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