Action on illegal deforestation is welcome - but crop-based biofuels must also stay out of transport
SAF Factsheet: Food not Fuel
As part of London Climate Action Week, the Government has taken an important step to tackle illegal deforestation.
Under the proposals UK businesses who trade in commodities sourced from rainforests such as soy, palm oil, cocoa and rubber will need to check that their supply chains are not contributing to illegal deforestation.
However at the same time, the Government is facing considerable lobbying from Big Oil and the aviation industry to weaken its flagship aviation decarbonisation policy, the SAF Mandate, by allowing crop-based SAF into the scheme.
There is a clear link between this type of SAF and widespread deforestation:
Indirect Land Use Change - As food supply is diverted to make crop based SAF, land needed for agriculture expands triggering a domino effect where tropical forests and grasslands, in places like the Amazon or Southeast Asia, are cleared to plant new food crops.
Fraud - Investigations have already revealed widespread fraud where virgin palm oil (directly linked to tropical deforestation in Malaysia and Indonesia) is being chemically altered or falsely documented as "used cooking oil" before being exported to Western markets to make SAF. Opening the mandate to crop based biofuels further increase the risk of fraud as it will be even harder to verify the source of crop based biofuels.
The Government’s stated commitment to tackling illegal deforestation - 90% of which is driven by agricultural expansion - is fundamentally incompatible with any proposal to open the SAF Mandate to crop-based fuels.
Making this policy change will create a large new market for the very commodities fueling that destruction.
To keep the SAF Mandate robust, credible, and aligned with its own climate goals, Ministers must resist industry lobbying and uphold the existing ban on food-based feedstocks.
Anything less isn’t just a policy inconsistency; it is a direct incentive for the very deforestation the Government claims to oppose.
Download our SAF factsheet 'Food Not Fuel'
Related Articles
View All
Now is not the time to reduce ambition on tackling aviation emissions
The UK Government is considering watering down its most important policy to reduce emissions from flying whilst untaxed aviation emissions hit record ...
The State of UK Transport
The UK’s Zero Emission Vehicle mandate is driving real prog electric HGVs, tackling growing maritime emissions, and supporting refinery transitions to...
