Tesco accused of false claims about sources of biodiesel
Tue 15 April 2008
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An investigation by Greenpeace has found that the supermarket Tesco has made false claims about the source of biodiesel sold at its service stations. The report found that 30 per cent of the biofuel in Tesco diesel came from palm oil. Tesco's diesel typically contains 5 per cent biofuel.
The Times reports that researchers from Greenpeace bought biodiesel from a Tesco filling station in Edmonton, North London, on April 3 and sent it to Germany for analysis by ASG, an independent laboratory.
The remaining 70 per cent of the biofuel was from soya which is generally considered to be more sustainable than palm oil but which is linked to concerns about rising food prices.
A Tesco spokesman was reported as saying: “The feedstock we use is rapeseed and soy. There is no palm oil whatsoever.” When pressed, he admitted that small amounts of palm oil might be used in some parts of the country. He said that the only recent example was in the North West in January when Tesco biodiesel contained 10 per cent palm oil.
However, after being told of the researchers' findings, Tesco issued a new statement: “We try to minimise the use of palm oil but levels do go up and down. We wouldn’t give a set limit.”
Tesco said that the concentration of palm oil in its biodiesel was the responsibility of Greenergy, its fuel supplier, which is 25 per cent owned by Tesco. A spokeswoman for Greenergy also initially denied using palm oil but later said: “It’s a very, very small proportion of our feedstock mix.”
Greenergy's website says that the company does buy palm oil that is not from areas converted from forest or peat. It says that the company has an extensive and ongoing audit programme to inspect its suppliers' production and that it manages its production practices to ensure biofuels supplies are derived from sustainable sources.
According to a paper prepared for Biofuelwatch, a campaign group opposed to biofuels, Greenergy accept that deforestation for palm oil production is happening in Indonesia and Malaysia but say they are committed to only sourcing sustainable product.
Greenergy is a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which has been established to try to prevent rainforests from being destroyed to grow palms. However, so far only a tiny proportion of palm oil has so far been certified as coming from sustainable sources.
Other supermarket groups told The Times that they try to use only sustainable palm oil.
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