According to a report on a UK shipping-related website, environmental organizations such as Transport & Environment Europe (T&E), in conjunction with international shipping companies such as Hapag-Lloyd, are calling on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to exclude biofuels from the list of green alternatives to fossil fuels.T&E argues that the potential negative impacts of biofuels outweigh the benefits, particularly as the supply of waste biofuels ( such as those made from waste cooking oil and animal fats) are in limited supply and are expected to meet only 2.5% to 3% of the shipping industry’s biofuel needs by 2030, and could lead to environmental damage.
The environmental group’s warning is based on a study that predicts that nearly one-third of the world’s shipping will be using biofuels by 2030, compared to less than 1 percent today. However, the main feedstocks for biofuels, such as palm and soybean oils, account for 60 percent of biofuel demand, a dependence that could push up vegetable oil prices and trigger environmental problems such as deforestation and land grabbing, T&E noted.T&E pointed out that these problems are further exacerbated by the dramatic increase in the use of palm oil-based biofuels following the European Union’s decree promoting biofuels for automobiles.
In addition, T&E noted that biofuel production could take up a large amount of farmland, and it is estimated that the biofuel industry could require 34 million hectares of land by 2030, which is equivalent to the size of Germany and could put pressure on food production. As the production of feedstocks such as palm oil and soybeans is accompanied by deforestation, the carbon emissions generated are much higher than those of traditional shipping fuels.
The Global Forest Coalition (GFC) and other environmental organizations have joined forces with 69 agencies to speak out and ask the International Maritime Organization to reject biofuels and instead prioritize genuinely cleaner energy solutions, such as hydrogen fuels, in order to avoid an even greater negative impact on the climate.