RE: ENERGY
Fuelling opinion
Six years ago biofuels were held up as a silver bullet solution to addressing mounting energy needs; subsidies were ramped up, mandates were set, their standing as a competitive fuel looked secure. Today the picture is far from clear-cut. Charlotte Owen explores retailers’ relationship with the opinion-splitting fuel
Despite a number of technical, regulatory and socio-economic challenges, the biofuels industry is still experiencing rapid growth. Currently six billion litres, almost 5% of European transport fuel, now comes from these renewable sources. The figure is set to more than triple by 2020 as the EU courses towards meeting a 10% target of biofuels used in transport fuel by 2020. However in the UK specifically, although one type, biomethane
from anaerobic digestion, has been harnessed for many years, it is yet to be used on a wide scale, providing only 0.01% of renewable transport fuels, according to a 2011 report from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. Moreover, while many retailers and businesses continue to make biofuels available at their own fuel stations or use them as fuel for their transport fleets, some have shunned the fuel entirely due to uncertainty of the legislative and economic landscape such as the EU’s failure to come forward with a plan to deal with indirect land use change (ILUC), the net carbon loss thought to occur when forests and grasslands are cleared for food production that has been displaced by biofuels. The ‘Food versus Fuel’ debate is also adding fuel to the fire due to the perceived adverse effect of biofuel feedstock cultivation on world food availability and affordability. A UK Department for Transport (DFT) report found between April 15 2012 and January 14 2013 of the 965 million litres of renewable
36 RETAIL ENVIRONMENT | JUNE 2013
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