Report

Biofuels on the Dutch market

In 2012 the Dutch NGO Natuur & Milieu together with three European environmental NGOs commissioned the study ‘Biofuels on the Dutch market – Ranking oil companies in the Netherlands’.  In this study CE Delft assessed the biofuel data per supplier as published by the Dutch Emissions Authority (NEa), resulting in a ranking of fuel suppliers based on the average greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of their biofuel blends in 2011. At the end of January 2014, the Dutch Emissions Authority has published a document containing the data over 2012. Natuur & Milieu and Greenpeace have requested an update of the ranking to see whether changes in the biofuels mix and therefore average greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will result in a different ranking.

From biofuels from food crops to biofuels from waste and residues

Overall, it can be concluded that the updated ranking is quite similar to the ranking in 2011. A majority of the fuel suppliers has a similar place in the ranking compared to 2011. On average, GHG emission savings have improved. All biofuels cause less GHG emissions than the fossil fuel reference, although there is a large range in the level of emission savings. The changes in the ranking could be explained by the type of feedstocks and the height of the different shares. Overall, the shares of biofuels from food crops decreased and the shares of biofuels from waste and residues increased.

Reporting methodology
Due to the reporting methodology of the Dutch Emissions Authority there could be a difference between the average GHG emission factor in practice and the emission factor calculated for this ranking. This should be kept in mind when interpreting the updated ranking. Overall, however, the data transparency increased as result of a lower share of unknown feedstocks.

See also Biofuels on the Dutch market. Ranking oil companies in the Netherlands

Authors