Ireland : Ryan to call for sustainable biofuel alternatives in EU
Ireland’s Transport Minister Eamon Ryan is calling on the European Commission to investigate biofuel imports, particularly from Asia, due to concerns about their sustainability. HVO, touted as a green alternative, is increasingly produced from palm oil instead of waste materials, potentially contributing to deforestation. Experts advocate for stronger regulations to ensure genuine sustainability in biofuels.
The Minister for Transport is to call on the European Commission to examine imports of biofuels from outside the EU as concerns grow about sustainability. Eamon Ryan will make the call at the EU’s Energy Council this week saying concerted action is needed amid growing concern particularly about biofuels produced from palm oil waste products. Fuels like Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) have been presented as a green alternative to fossil fuels like diesel or kerosene with supporters claiming it offers emission reductions of up to 90%.
HVO can be used in most diesel engines and several fuel station companies have started rolling out HVO pumps on their forecourts and are promising more.
The fuel is also being used by both semi-state and private companies as a way to meet their sustainability obligations and reduce emissions.
HVO can be made with materials like used cooking oil or by-products of food production which could otherwise go to waste.
But there are growing concerns that there are not enough of these materials and growing demand for biofuels means unsustainable ingredients like palm oil are being used.
Experts in this area have been expressing concern for some time.
Professor of Sustainable Energy at University College Cork Dr Hannah Daly says it is “very appealing” because it can directly substitute diesel or kerosene.
“It’s seen as a drop in replacement without requiring big investments or major changes, but in reality there are warning signs that instead of being produced from waste, like used cooking oil, much of HVO is actually produced using unsustainable materials, for example, like pure palm oil, which could be in inadvertently contributing to tropical deforestation.”
Asia has become a major source of biofuels for Europe.
Cian Delany is Campaign Coordinator on Energy for the Brussels-based Transport & Environment group and has looked at used cooking oil imported from Asian countries.
“When we did our modelling, we found that the exports reported for UCO, for used cooking oil products, was significantly larger than what we deemed feasible to collect in these countries and that that’s a major red flag, if you have a palm-producing powerhouse like Malaysia exporting more used cooking oil than it seems possible for them to collect.”
Minister Eamon Ryan agrees that the amount of biofuel being imported from Asia raises issues.
“The volume that has increased recently it doesn’t seem that feasible that it could come from those waste oil sources that are being claimed. So that’s the key incentive to an investigation.”
Hannah Daly would like to see more thorough regulation.
“There are certification processes that certify that fuels come from non-palm oil sources. But people have raised concerns that these are not robust enough and that these require verification at the country level, which is not being done in detail.”
Cian Daly says the EU has opted for light touch regulation.
He said the EU has essentially offloaded the responsibility on to what are known as “voluntary certification schemes”.
“So when a company or an organization says they’re buying certified HBO or certified biofuels, it’s done through these schemes and these schemes are third party, they’re voluntary and for the majority, they’re industry led.”
Responding to the concerns raised, Kevin McPartlan of Fuels For Ireland, which represents fuel suppliers said Irish fuels suppliers have a 100% compliance record in meeting the requirements.
He said this can be verified by the National Oil Reserves Agency, the responsible State body.
He added: “We are fully supportive of Minister Ryan’s call on the European Commission to examine imported biofuel feedstocks. We seek a robust regulatory regime backed by strong enforcement to guarantee that all are genuinely sustainable.”
Source Link : https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/1013/1475250-biofuels-sustainable/
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