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1 Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel

Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the environmental impact 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 used to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

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

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

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

They've motivated the usage of biofuels as an important means of suppressing carbon from vehicles and trucks.

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

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 indicates they counteract the carbon emitted when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once commonly utilized as parts of biodiesel but this practice has actually been commonly challenged since it encourages deforestation.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being a crucial part of biodiesel with an effective industry springing up throughout Europe to collect and process the item.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there merely isn't enough chip fat to walk around.

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

Their research study suggests this is extremely troublesome when it pertains to effects on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the question of what people 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 offered however the circulation of UCO is likely to be similar.

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

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

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

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the rate of UCO is typically higher than palm oil. The worry is that some deceitful traders are merely diluting shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the products is performed, some professionals think fraud is rife.

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

"It is extensively understood that the European Commission has actually taken relevant actions to entirely curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

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

"The combination of revised certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability problems emerge in the whole biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database concept, which was first mooted in 2018, might not work in stemming presumed scams.

The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and aviation looking to decarbonise by using biofuels, demand for UCO could double over the next years.

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and dangers of using 'fake' UCO, potentially resulting in such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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