NEW REPORT BY DR. CHRIS MALINS AND RAINFOREST FOUNDATION NORWAY
PFAD-based biofuels: “worse for the climate than fossil diesel”
PFAD use in biofuels will predictably lead to palm oil expansion, a recognised driver of tropical deforestation.
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PALM OIL: Palm oil fruits being processed at a plantation. Photo: Shutterstock
The world is in an ecological crisis of climate change and biodiversity loss. Deforestation and peat destruction are major contributors to both of these crises, resulting in carbon dioxide emissions from lost vegetation and disturbed soils, and depriving plants and animals of suitable habitats.
Policy makers have been promoting biofuels as a measure to reduce emissions from fossil fuel combustion. The reality is more complicated. Increasing demand for agricultural commodities provides an incentive to expand production. Expanding production can be expected to lead to land use changes including deforestation, especially for forest-risk commodities such as palm oil and soy oil, both which are also used in the production for crop-based biofuels.
Aside from the carbon cost of these biofuels, ongoing agricultural expansion leads to biodiversity destruction and fuels land conflicts with local communities, often indigenous peoples.
While Europe is slowly turning away from the use of palm oil for biofuel production, Palm Fatty Acid Distillate (PFAD), an output stream from palm oil refining, is is now also used to produce biofuels. The 2023 report “PFAD and biofuels” by renowned biofuels expert Dr. Chris Malins, warns for an increase of tropical deforestation caused by a displacement effect driven by the uptake of PFAD in biofuels, and urges that PFAD use in biofuels should be phased out as soon as possible.
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VAST: A vast palm oil plantation in Southeast Asia on what once was rainforest. Photo: Rainforest Foundation Norway
PFAD in biofuels will predictably cause increased palm oil demand
The report found that PFAD consumption by the biofuel industry will potentially drive increased palm oil production due to the need for substitution in other applications (e.g. soaps and other oleochemicals and livestock feed) which are dependent on the limited PFAD supply.
If PFAD is displaced out of its existing markets for use in biofuel feedstock, it will lead to increased demand for potential substitute materials. In many applications, the lowest cost potential substitute material for PFAD will be palm oil, and therefore, diverting PFAD into biofuel use will predictably cause increased palm oil demand. Palm oil expansion is linked with extensive tropical deforestation and peat loss.
Looking at lifecycle emissions, the author of the report, Dr. Chris Malins, found that if this substitution effect by replacing PFAD in existing applications is considered, analysis suggests that PFAD-based biofuels are even worse for the climate than fossil diesel or jet fuel.
![](https://regnskog-cloud.imgix.net/images/Orangutang_201201_150834.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=499&q=90&w=750&s=c73f0c213f3edf565007d3318d4d84ae)
ORANGUTANG: A baby Sumatra orangutang (Pongo Pygmaeus abelii) napping on its mothers back. Orangutang habitats have been destroyed to make way for vast palm oil plantations in Southeast Asia. Photo: Thomas Marent
Classifying PFAD as a co-product could reduce deforestation pressure
The report found that PFAD, though less valuable than palm oil, has a higher value than soybeans, wheat, sugar, and crude oil, and it would not be accurate to characterise PFAD as a low-value residue. Besides having a substantial value, PFAD has a well-defined market and is a resource that is entirely utilised by the current applications dependent on it. Therefore, the report argues for a classification as a co-product rather than a residue.
The report highlights that while the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive is less clear on PFAD’s characterisation, multiple Member States have already chosen to exclude PFAD-based fuels from favourable support subsidies or for it to be phased out alongside palm oil-based fuels.
To reduce deforestation pressure, other countries should also follow this approach and restrict or eliminate support for PFAD fuels in their own biofuel policies. They could achieve this by clarifying that PFAD should be treated as a palm oil co-product and, therefore, as a food-and-feed-based fuel.
Key recommendations from the report:
- EU Member States to further reduce deforestation pressure by excluding PFAD-based fuels from policy support in their national implementation of the Renewable Energy Directive
- EU Member States to classify PFAD as a co-product rather than a residue, so that it does not receive the more favourable regulatory treatment given to biofuels from waste and residues
- Biofuel producers should phase out PFAD as a feedstock, as PFAD drives the need for substitution with palm oil in other applications which are dependent on PFAD
- Palm oil, soy oil and PFAD are unsuitable as biofuel feedstocks due to their link to deforestation and biodiversity loss. Organisations should phase out their consumption as soon as possible and sustainable alternatives should be used to decarbonize transport.
For further comments, contact:
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Ingrid Tungen
Team Leader, Deforestation-free Markets
(+47) 414 73 806
ingrid.t@rainforest.no