Public reporting of biofuels sustainability performance cuts GHG emissions - Dutch report
Sat 02 March 2013
View all news
A recent report by CE Delft suggests that the requirement to publicly report on the sustainability performance of the biofuels that oil and energy companies sell in the market makes a big difference when it comes to overall greenhouse gas emissions. Only Holland and the UK currently require suppliers to make these reports are available to the public, and the biofuels sold in the Netherlands score, on average, very high on sustainability criteria.
The CE Delft report says that there are large differences in the sustainability of biofuels sold on the Dutch market, with fuels containing a high proportion of waste- and residue-derived fuel generally resulting in a better score. Because indirect land use change (ILUC) is not yet included in the Renewable Energy Directive, the report says that fuel suppliers can currently market biofuels that only achieve very limited GHG emission savings, or even increase overall emissions.
CE Delft recommends that the level of data transparency could be greatly improved by the Dutch government by including absolute volumes and linkage of type of biofuels to feedstocks and country of origin in their annual report. A high level of transparency would provide an incentive for fuel suppliers to opt for biofuels from waste and residues instead of crop-based biofuels.
The report was commissioned by BirdLife Europe, Transport & Environment, the European Environmental Bureau and the Dutch NGO Natuur & Milieu. The aim of the project was also to identify differences in the companies’ performance and raise the awareness of Dutch consumers.
The Netherlands was the second EU country (after the United Kingdom) to make data on biofuels publically available. The UK sustainability and carbon accreditation criteria adopted by the UK Government and incorporated in the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO) were designed by the LowCVP.
Related Links
< Back to news list