On a global scale, the utilization of biofuels has led to a greater uptick in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions than the fossil fuels that they are envisioned to replace, a new study done on behalf of Europe’s Transport & Environment (T&E) suggests.
The report, which was released by consultancy firm Cerulogy on behalf of T&E, showed that worldwide biofuel manufacturing emits 16% more CO2 than fossil fuels because of the indirect impacts of farming and deforestation.
By 2030, biofuels are anticipated to produce 70 MtCO₂e more than fossil fuels, which translates to the annual emissions of almost 30 million diesel cars.
That same land used for the manufacturing of biofuels, however, could reportedly feed 1.3 billion people, while using just 3% of the land for solar panels could create the same amount of energy, the report said.
Given this massive loss of land and the stark numbers, particularly since biofuel demand is expected to rise by at least 40% by 2030, T&E has called for global stakeholders, those from the maritime industry included, to “limit the expansion of a climate solution that is doing more harm than good.”
“Biofuels are a terrible climate solution and a staggering waste of land, food and millions in subsidies. Ensuring a sustainable balance between agriculture and nature is essential to tackling the climate crisis,” Cian Delaney , biofuels campaigner at T&E, commented.
As T&E has noted, in spite of advanced and waste biofuels being promoted more and more as cleaner solutions, 90% of global production of these alternative fuels still relies on food crops.
Moreover, T&E’s analysis has stressed that biofuel crops require significant amounts of freshwater, putting increasing pressure on water supplies and, by extension, endangering the global climate neutrality goals, especially the Net Zero Framework (NZF) .
For the maritime industry specifically, Transport & Environment has already warned about the potential dangers of using biofuels as a path toward net zero. Even though numerous shipping players have set their sights on biofuels for their fleet(s), such as Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transportation and others, others have taken a wait-and-see approach.
T&E revealed in a different report (also done by Cerulogy) that by 2030, a third of global maritime transport could run on biofuels.
The organization had spotlighted that, although waste biofuels like used cooking oil (UCO) and animal fats have garnered plenty of attention from shipping players, including giants like Switzerland’s MSC and France’s CMA CGM, they are unlikely to cover more than a small proportion of shipping’s projected demand as their availability is limited.
In addition to this, German container shipping colossal Hapag-Lloyd and compatriot environmental association NABU, as well as a set of other organizations, have called for the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to remove ‘unsustainable’ biofuels from its list of alternative fuels, citing biodiversity risks that this energy source poses.
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( The article has been amended on October 15 to remove shipping company Norden from the context.)