1 Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel

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Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the ecological effect of rising imports of used 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 research study, external, there's no other way to prove these imports are sustainable.

Without any screening of what's coming in, specialists believe it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports may increase logging

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Reducing emissions from transport is showing to be one of the hardest obstacles for federal governments all over the world.

They have actually encouraged using biofuels as a crucial ways of curbing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were as soon as widely utilized as components of biodiesel but this practice has actually been commonly challenged because it encourages logging.

So for the last years or two, using utilized cooking oil has actually expanded enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being an essential part of biodiesel with an efficient industry springing up across Europe to gather and process the item.

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

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

Their study recommends this is highly problematic when it concerns influence on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste product 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 nations 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 readily available however the circulation of UCO is most 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 people, managed to gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're simply purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, since that's the cheapest oil readily available.

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

Another significant problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the cost of UCO is typically higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous traders are just diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transport, and no testing of the products is performed, some experts think fraud 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 plans in place.

"It is widely understood that the European Commission has actually taken relevant actions to completely suppress 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 guarantee that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The combination of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability problems arise in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

Others in the field are concerned that the database concept, which was first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming believed scams.

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

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and dangers of UCO, possibly resulting in indirect impacts such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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