Palm oil push in UN aviation carbon scheme
Major biofuel producing nations are using the UN’s aviation agency to push for weaker rules on biofuel use after 2023 at the same time that the EU is discussing whether to ban feedstocks such as palm oil from the bloc’s renewable energy sectors.
EU lawmakers voted this week to exclude palm oil from a revised version of bloc’s renewable energy directive that will apply from 2021-2030, measures that are thought likely to remain in the final legislation.
But a draft text for the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) future scheme to curb emissions from the sector, circulated last week, underlines the absence of environmental safeguards for biofuels.
ICAO said in November that widespread use of biofuels would enable airlines to consume 128 million tonnes of biofuels by 2040, adding that demand from airlines covered by its CORSIA carbon offset scheme could double to 285 million tonnes (equivalent to half of all aviation fuel) by 2050.
By comparison, some 82 million tonnes of biofuels a year are currently used in transport worldwide, according to NGO Biofuels Watch.
“Indonesia has been pushing hard for palm oil-based biofuels to be included in the final ICAO criteria, but overall it was Brazil that was the most insistent that sustainability criteria was watered down or removed,” said an observer of the technical committee that is advising ICAO, who requested anonymity.
Earlier this month, Brazilian President Michel Temer approved RenovaBio, a national biofuels policy that aims to scale up production and consumption of ethanol, biodiesel and biomethane.
In November, environmental groups pointed out that 10 of the 12 environmental safeguards recommended by technical advisors to the UN agency had been removed, suggesting that ICAO will pursue a relatively laissez-faire policy towards the use of biofuels.
The safeguards that were removed were related to land rights, food security, labour rights and biodiversity protection.
Meanwhile, palm oil is one of the major feedstocks for hydronated vegetable oil (HVO) which is one of the most common additives to kerosene that airlines say is greener than burning regular jet fuel.
Green groups say crop-based biofuels are in some cases worse than fuels they aim to replace because of the changes to land use required to produce feedstocks.
These claims are strongly contested by producers, who say much of the ILUC (indirect land use change) analysis is deeply flawed.
ICAO is expected to publish its final proposals for CORSIA in June, but the proposals are likely to come under close scrutiny from MEPs in light of concerns about the quality of carbon offsets that the UN agency decides to allow, and the climate impact of mandated biofuels.
The EU in 2012 exempted non-EU airlines from its emissions trading scheme on the condition that ICAO draws up targets and rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the sector, which if unchecked could become one of the biggest contributors to climate change.