NGOs urge EU to stop support for crop-based biofuels

A group of around 40 NGOs have written to European Commission (EC) President Ursala von der Leyen with calls to end support for crop-based biofuel blending.

PHOTO: View of the Port of Amsterdam. Getty Images

The EC made a statement in March, supporting member states that reduce blending of biofuels made from agricultural crops. European NGOs such as Oxfam, Greenpeace and WWF now say they back that statement, while calling for a complete end to EU support to deriving from food crops.

Several EU countries have used the past few years to decarbonise part of their economies through, among other measures, increasing uptake of biofuels as blending components. Biofuel consumption has increased in tandem with more stringent environmental mandates for cars, ships and other outlets.

Biofuel uptake in shipping industry has risen in major ports as more vessels opt for these blends to curb emissions. Around 137,000 mt of bio-VLSFO was supplied in the Port of Rotterdam in the first quarter – almost as much as the 150,000 mt supplied over the whole of 2021.

A concern for NGOs and policymakers has been increased pressure food crops from biofuels production, which has turned into a competition between food security and climate concerns.

And food shortages could soon become more acute as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with blocked exports from Ukrainian ports and boycotts of Russian exports. Ukraine is the fifth biggest wheat exporter in the world. Russia is the biggest.

Oxfam and the other NGOs are now calling for an end all EU support to bioenergy production from agricultural crops and forest biomass, especially under the Renewable Energy Directive which proposes an increase in sustainable biogas production.

The NGOs argue that if member nations reduce biofuel blending, it would free up agricultural land used to produce biofuel feedstocks.

Many shipowners have run successful biofuel trials on their vessels and been quick to emphasise when these blends derive from waste-based bio feedstock, such as used cooking oil, as opposed to food crops.