This article is part of our special report Displacing fossil fuels in Europe’s transport sector.
Green jet fuel made from used cooking oil and animal fats should be restricted on environmental grounds, a recent British government consultation document has suggested, raising questions over whether the EU will follow suit.
The British Department for Transport document, which puts forward possible policy scenarios for the UK’s 2025 sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) law, warns that unless a cap is placed on green jet fuel produced from used cooking oil and animal fats, carbon emissions may rise in other transport sectors.
Fuels derived from used cooking oil and animal fats are commonly referred to as Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids, or HEFA.
“The purpose of a HEFA cap is to ensure that introducing a SAF mandate does not divert feedstock away from existing uses or raise concerns over sustainability by increasing demand for certain feedstocks,” the consultation document states.
“In particular, we want to ensure that HEFA use in aviation does not lead to diversion of feedstocks that are still required for the decarbonisation of difficult-to-decarbonise road transport vehicles”.
Various policy options are put forward in the document, ranging from an outright ban to a limit on volume.
Unlike the UK approach, no limit was included in the European Commission’s SAF proposal, leading to concerns that aviation will monopolise waste biofuels, potentially increasing the amount of fossil fuels in the road and maritime sectors.
Lawmakers from the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers representing the bloc’s 27 member states are expected to finalise negotiations on the EU’s SAF law, known as ReFuelEU Aviation, on 25 April.
While MEPs initially floated a 0.6% cap on the contribution of used cooking oil and animal tallow for SAFs, this limit did not make it into the Parliament’s final negotiating position.
However, countries with sizable maritime industries are expected to seek a restriction.
‘Sustainability safeguard’
HEFA is currently the most affordable SAF on the market, making it a popular choice with airlines to meet green jet fuel mandates.
But leaving the quantity of HEFA unrestricted would remove industry’s incentive to invest in new types of SAF, warned Chelsea Baldino, a researcher with the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT).
“Capping the contribution of HEFA fuel in ReFuelEU would send a policy signal to investors to support the SAF technologies needed for significant decarbonisation in the aviation sector in the long term,” she told EURACTIV.
Baldino also warned that incentivising the import of large quantities of used cooking oil (UCO) into the bloc could lead to fraud.
According to a 2022 ICCT study, more UCO is being exported from some Asian nations than is being collected, raising fears that palm oil, a restricted feedstock for biofuels in the EU, is being passed off as UCO.
Industry denies these allegations, pointing to safeguards such as EU-mandated traceability and certification measures.
��Fair redistribution’
Christian Flach, CEO of the London-based fuel company Greenergy, said that the British proposal follows an “interesting approach” as it will “create a level playing field between transport modes”.
“This approach ensures sustainability and scalability for aviation and safeguards the viability and decarbonisation potential of waste-based and advanced biodiesel for road and maritime uses,” he said.
His comments were echoed by Angel Alberdi, the secretary general of the European Waste-based & Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who said the British proposal would ensure that there is a “fair redistribution” of waste biofuels.
“We understand that a solution like the British [proposal] would ensure that you could still use UCO and animal fats in the three sectors – maritime, where they will play a very important role very soon; road, especially for the heavy duty sector; and indeed aviation,” he told EURACTIV.
To alleviate pressure on waste biofuels in the initial years of the SAF mandate, both the Council and Parliament have proposed to expand the SAF definition put forward by the Commission.
Potential new feedstocks on the table include cover crops, which are used to enhance soil fertility, and synthetic fuels derived from nuclear power.
“In the original Commission proposal, [waste lipids] were really the only option for aviation, so that was received with extreme concern by the industry. Now negotiations are going in a very positive direction with this feedstock expansion,” said Alberdi.
Michael Fiedler-Panajotopoulos, European public affairs director with Chevron Renewable Energy Group, similarly argued that “a broader feedstock base is vital” to reaching the EU’s aviation decarbonisation goals, cautioning against replicating Norway’s early SAF mandate.
“Norway shows that when an undifferentiated SAF mandate is implemented, all of the mandated waste lipids are utilised for aviation,” he told EURACTIV.
However, not all biofuels producers are in favour of the UK’s proposed limit on waste biofuels
Neste, a major Finnish fuel company that is set to become one of the EU’s primary SAF suppliers, said that a cap will not help Europe to achieve its goal of displacing kerosene.
“If the main objective is to replace as much fossil fuel as possible with sustainable and renewable alternatives, then blanket restrictions and feedstock caps may hinder this, while neither addressing the root causes of fraud nor preventing it,” a Neste spokesperson told EURACTIV.
[Edited by Frédéric Simon]
