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UK airlines’ new ‘sustainable’ fuels may cause deforestation in Asia [1]
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Date: 2023-05
The “greenwashing” efforts of UK airlines may be contributing to the destruction of rainforests in Asia, openDemocracy can reveal.
The aviation industry began boasting of using ‘sustainable aviation fuel’ (SAF) last year. It claims this will help it to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 because it is made from ‘waste and residue’ materials and can produce 80% less emissions than fossil jet fuel.
But government data reveals that more than 80% of the 26 million litres of SAF supplied to airlines in the UK last year was made from imported “used cooking oil”. Most came from countries in Asia, where its authenticity has been questioned.
The highest proportion of SAF came from Malaysia, which supplied seven million litres to the UK. In 2020, Malaysian firms exported more ‘used’ cooking oil to Britain and Ireland than was actually collected in the country, according to an analysis by Farm Europe, a Brussels-based think tank.
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Farm Europe’s findings sparked fears that virgin palm oil – grown on plantations that contribute to tropical deforestation – is being passed off as used oil, as waste products earn double credits under the UK’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO).
The RTFO requires suppliers of road fuel to supply a certain amount of biofuel, but they can meet part of their obligation by supplying aviation fuel.
Other large exporters of SAF to the UK last year were China, which supplied five million litres, and Indonesia, which supplied one million.
The European Biodiesel Board last month said it strongly suspected that a recent surge in imports of biodiesel from China involved fraudulent declarations that the feedstocks were made from waste materials.
Even genuine used cooking oil can indirectly cause deforestation because countries export oil they would otherwise have used and instead use palm oil to meet domestic demand, according to green campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E).
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[1] Url:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/uk-airlines-sustainable-fuel-used-cooking-oil-deforestation-palm-oil/
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