RFA second annual reports shows big oil companies missing sustainability targets
Thu 27 January 2011
View all news
The Renewable Fuel Agency's second annual report shows that big oil companies - including BP, Chevron, Murco, Total, INEOS and Morgan all missed all three sustainability performance targets set as part of the Government’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). Murco failed to report any fuel meeting the RTFO’s Environmental Qualifying Standard and Prax failed to have its sustainability data verified. At the other end of the scale, the RFA reports that Greenergy, Lissan, Mabanaft and Topaz met all three targets.
In a press release accompanying the figures, the RFA says that the report shows that industry as a whole is not keeping up with escalating targets designed to encourage more sustainable biofuels. Just 31% of biofuel feedstock met a Qualifying Environmental Standard, well below the target of 50%. The majority of suppliers also missed the GHG target of 50%, but the RTFO as a whole achieved 51% savings compared to fossil fuels.
The RFA’s CEO Nick Goodall said, “We've seen some progress from suppliers in meeting the challenge of sourcing their biofuels responsibly, but in many cases it has been disappointingly slow. Too many are lagging behind and dragging overall performance down. With mandatory sustainability criteria due to be introduced with the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), companies currently missing all three targets need to make a step change in performance.”
The implementation of the RED across the EU will require that biofuels are guaranteed not to have been grown on recently deforested or highly biodiverse land, potentially favouring those oil companies who have already built relationships with suppliers.
The RFA report looks at how governments and policy makers in the EU and beyond have reacted to new evidence on the issue of indirect land use change (iLUC).
The RFA’s Head of Carbon and Sustainability Aaron Berry said: “The iLUC issue is not going to go away because it raises uncertainty about how biofuels are really delivering on reducing carbon emissions. Biofuel suppliers need to consider the risk of indirect effects and what they can do to reduce them.”
In October 2010 the Government announced its intention to abolish the RFA as part of a wider review of public spending. The functions of the Agency are to be transferred to the Secretary of State for Transport when the abolition takes place on the 1st of April.
Related Links
< Back to news list