Link to: Sustainability and indirect land use change
SUSTAINABILITY AND LCA
The lifecycle environmental impact of alternative fuels
Link to: Low carbon fuel policy
BETTER POLICY
Frameworks to commercialise advanced alternative fuels
Stay up to date
Latest Content
Considerations for addressing indirect land use change in Danish biofuel regulation
This report for the Danish Energy Agency presents an overview and review of indirect land use change modelling, and provides a discussion of options for Denmark to adjust its biofuel policy to take further…
Aviation biofuels in Spain
This report for the Spanish NGO Ecologistas en Acción considers the potential for the development of an aviation biofuel industry in Spain. It notes that it may be challenging to reorient existing renewable…
Multiple and cover cropping in Brazil
Over recent decades the use of cover crops as part of the "sistema plantio direto" has become an important feature of Brazilian agriculture. In much of Brazil a second 'safrinha' (off season) corn crop…
Animal, vegetable or mineral (oil)?
The United States is in a period of rapid expansion of vegetable oil hydrotreating capacity, which will greatly increase the potential to supply renewable diesel and renewable jet fuel under the Renewable…
SAFty in numbers
As part of the Green Deal, the European Commission has launched the “ReFuelEU Aviation Initiative” to increase the role of “sustainable aviation fuels” in EU aviation. This report for Transport…
Fuelling Development
This report for Transport and Environment, written in partnership with David Calderbank Consulting, considers options for the development of alternative transport energy policy in the UK under the Renewable…
Soy, land use change and ILUC-risk
In its assessment of which biofuel feedstocks should be considered 'high ILUC-risk', the European Commission found that soy oil was associated with second highest deforestation risk of the biofuel feedstocks…
We didn’t start the fire!
This report for Transport and Environment reviews the role of biomass based energy in scenarios for meeting EU and global climate change targets.
Beyond biomass?
Within the European Union's recast Renewable Energy Directive support is available not only to biofuels but also to 'renewable fuels of non-biological origin' (electrofuels) and to 'recycled carbon fuels'…
Accentuating the positive?
Estimating emissions associated with indirect land use change (ILUC) is a fundamental part of analysing the likely net GHG emissions impacts of biofuel mandates, and in some regulations (e.g. U.S. Renewable…
Biofuel to the fire
In partnership with the Rainforest Foundation Norway, this report reviews the threat to tropical forests from continued expansion of mandates for palm- and soy-oil based biofuels.
Destination deforestation
The aviation industry identifies 'sustainable aviation fuels' as a key tool to manage the growing climate impact of aviation. There are, however, fundamental differences between the sustainability…
What does it mean to be a renewable electron?
Defining renewability and additionality for renewable fuels of non-biological origin
In the European Union, renewable energy policy is guided by the Renewable Energy Directive, which sets targets…
In the European Union, renewable energy policy is guided by the Renewable Energy Directive, which sets targets…
Truckin’ on
In this report for FuelsEurope we present a proposal to use a fuel decarbonisation credit added to the heavy duty efficiency vehicle efficiency standard to accelerate deployment of advanced alternative…
The (environmental) price of FAME
Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), or biodiesel as it is more commonly known, is a diesel substitute produced by reacting methanol with vegetable oil, and is the second most widely used bio-additive in…
Comparing GTAP ILUC results to observations of ethanol related land use change
For over ten years, indirect land use change modeling has been an important part of assessing the environmental impact of U.S. biofuel policy. While several models have been developed to undertake these…
Accentuating the positive – has optimism bias driven reductions in ILUC estimates?
Indirect land use change, often abbreviated to ILUC, refers to the expected expansion of agricultural area (and subsequent release of carbon from biomass and soils) when biofuel policies increase demand…
Risk management
The recast Renewable Energy Directive, agreed last year, created a new category of high ILUC-risk biofuels, along with defining a role for certifying low ILUC-risk biofuels. This report, undertaken for…
Washington’s Clean Fuel Future
With Clean Fuel Programs (CFPs, also referred to as Low Carbon Fuel Standards) active in California, Oregon and British Columbia, and set to be introduced at the federal level in Canada, it is unsurprising…
What role for electromethane and electroammonia?
Following on our 2017 report on the potential for liquid electrofuels in the European fuel mix, Transport and Environment asked Cerulogy to look at the opportunity for electromethane as a heavy duty fuel…
Building the Perfect Beast: Designing Advanced Alternative Fuel Policy to Work
Cerulogy attended Biomass Conference and Exhibition in Copenhagen this year (2018) to present a paper on building more effective policy for advanced alternative fuel commercialisation. The paper is now…
California’s Clean Fuel Future
The California Air Resources Board is in the process of stakeholder engagement before setting compliance targets to 2030 for the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, and Cerulogy was asked by the NextGen Foundation,…
Driving deforestation
As we highlighted in our report 'For peat's sake', there is a well documented link between increasing palm oil demand, expansion of the cultivated area of palm oil plantations and destruction of forest…
Power to the people?
What role is there for electrofuel technologies in European transport’s low carbon future?
Liquid fuels are set to be part of the European and global transport energy supply for some time to come -…
Liquid fuels are set to be part of the European and global transport energy supply for some time to come -…
Devilish details…
...you’ll never believe the regulatory mistakes the EU is at risk of making in the RED II*
In a blog post just under a year ago I heralded the generally positive qualities of the European Commission’s…
In a blog post just under a year ago I heralded the generally positive qualities of the European Commission’s…
Thought for food
Since the food price crisis of 2006-2008, there has been a lively debate about the impact of biofuel demand on food markets, prices and security, with some biofuel advocates characterising the idea of…
Waste not want not
The controversy around the use of food and feed commodities for biofuel has led to an increasing focus on opportunities to produce biofuels from wastes, residues and by-products. However, where those materials…
Navigating the maize
Update - An updated critique reacting to republished results from USDA is available here: https://theicct.org/publications/critique-lifecycle-emissions-modeling-ghg-ethanol
Earlier in 2017, the United…
Earlier in 2017, the United…
For peat’s sake
This report, commissioned by the Rainforest Foundation Norway (cf. www.regnskog.no/en/news/norway-bans-palm-oil-based-biofuel-in-its-public-procurement), reviews the evidence on the implications of using…
A leap forward for European advanced biofuel policy
Yesterday, the European Commission released its proposal for the renewable energy regime for Europe through to 2030. The proposal includes a framework for supporting and regulating the supply of alternative…
Denial of long-term issues with agriculture on tropical peatlands will have devastating consequences
Following the 16th International Peat Congress (IPC) in Kuching (Sarawak), Malaysia, widely read media reported that the congress supported the view that current agricultural practices in peatland areas,…
Cerulogy 2022