Animal fats are being used to make sustainable fuels but they might end up being worse for the planet, according to a new study conducted on behalf of Transport & Environment (T&E), a group that is calling for greater transparency in terms of what is being used to fuel people’s flights.
According to T&E, the use of animal fat biodiesel has doubled in the past decade and is 40 times higher than it was in 2006. European lawmakers have been promoting the by-product of industrial meat farming as a way of reducing the carbon impact of transport fuels. They are now setting their sights on planes, and to a lesser extent on ships.
Nearly half of all European animal fats already go into biodiesel, despite being used extensively in the pet food, soaps and cosmetics industries. With the burning of animal fat biofuels set to triple by 2030, there will not be enough to scale it up sustainably, warned T&E.
“For years we’ve been burning animal fats in cars without drivers knowing,” said Barbara Smailagic, biofuels expert at T&E. “Now they will be fueling your next flight. But that can’t be sustained without depriving other sectors, which will in turn likely switch to damaging alternatives like palm oil. We need greater transparency so that consumers know what is going into their tanks and fueling their flights.”
Major airlines such as Ryanair and Wizz Air have recently struck large deals with oil suppliers for what are termed ‘sustainable aviation fuels’ (SAF). Details of the exact feedstocks used in SAFs are often vague. But projections obtained from Stratas Advisors, a consultancy, shows that animal fats are expected to be the most common ‘waste’ feedstock used in SAFs, alongside used cooking oil.
We need greater transparency so that consumers know what is fueling their flights.
Barbara Smailagic, biofuels expert at T&E
Like all ‘waste’ biofuels, the availability of animal fats is limited. Scaling up industrial meat farming is neither doable nor desirable. A flight from Paris to New York needs 8,800 dead pigs, T&E’s calculations show. This could be problematic for the pet food and soap and cosmetic industries who use animal fats extensively with few or no alternatives. Pet food makers have already warned that they will have to switch to “less sustainable options” such as palm oil, while soap and cosmetic producers will also most likely switch to palm as it is the cheapest option available.
In the most extreme case, where virgin palm oil substitutes animal fats in the oleochemicals industry (soaps, cosmetics), CO2 emissions of animal fats biofuels could be nearly twice as bad for the climate as conventional diesel. T&E animal fats category 3 should be excluded from the list of eligible biofuels feedstocks.
“The competing uses for animal fats lay bare the challenge of scaling up waste biofuels production,” said Smailagic. “Animal fats don’t grow on trees. Pet food suppliers, for example, will now have to reduce the sustainability of their products by using palm oil instead. And as we have seen with used cooking oil, this also increases the risk of fraud. The potential mislabeling of animal fats suggests fraud could be taking place on an industrial scale.”
Potential fraud
Animal fats are divided into three categories. Categories 1 and 2 include animal fats that cannot be consumed by humans or animals, as they are poor quality or likely carry disease. These are normally only used in transport fuels and for heating. Category 3 animal fats are better quality and are used by a number of different industries.
The EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED) encourages the production of animal fats for transport fuels by allowing fuel suppliers to meet renewables targets with them. The RED prioritizes categories 1 and 2 for transport fuels by allowing them to count for double in meeting targets.
Last year, European countries reported consuming twice the amount of biofuels derived from the categories 1 and 2 as the animal fats industry reported producing. This suggests higher-grade category 3 animal fats are being mislabeled as categories 1 and 2. As these animal fats are more valuable in transport fuels, there is a risk that producers and suppliers downgrade high quality animal fats to meet renewable transport targets. According to T&E, this would represent fraud at an industrial level it is being done deliberately.
