Biofuels need more production reports, says RFA

When the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) was established, the government set targets requiring suppliers to report on how much of their feedstock met three criteria: a qualifying environmental standard, the average greenhouse gas savings of their biofuels and how much data on the source of biofuels had been reliably captured.

While the targets are voluntary, reporting against them is not — although suppliers can opt to report ‘unknown’, in which case carbon emissions default to the biofuel source with the worst Green House Gas (GHG) emissions.

As might be expected from a system based on voluntary targets, some suppliers embraced the targets while others chose simply to comply with their minimum legal obligations.

At the top of the scale, Greenergy, Lissan, Mabanaft and Topaz met all three targets. At the other end were those that performed poorly against the targets, meeting just one or even none at all. These were Conocophillips — which met just one target — and BP, Chevron, INEOS, Morgan Stanley, Murco and Total who met none at all. Prax failed to have its sustainability data verified.