Pacific Environment study says biofuels need “fingerprinting” to eliminate fraud
The study, “The role of sustainable fuels certification schemes in maritime decarbonization”, was led by the Maritime Energy & Sustainable Development Centre of Excellence (MESD) at NTU Singapore. It evaluates established certification systems — including those by the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) and Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), Brazil’s RenovaBio, the California Air Resources Board’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (CARB LCFS), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard (U.S. EPA RFS) — to guide the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as it establishes global standards for Sustainable Fuel Certification Schemes (SFCS).
These existing frameworks provide critical blueprints for measuring full-lifecycle carbon emissions, tracking fuel ownership and ensuring broader environmental sustainability.
The study outlines major gaps in global fuel supply chains that leave them vulnerable to cheating. For example, documented cases of fraud involving recycled waste, such as used cooking oil and palm oil mill effluent, demonstrate the limitations of verification systems relying purely on paper documentation without physical origin checks.
To tackle these risks, the study recommends chemical testing or fuel “fingerprinting” to verify fuel authenticity independently, alongside stronger cross-checks. It also calls for a centralized digital database to log all fuel transactions, preventing suppliers from falsely claiming the same batch of green fuel more than once.
Category: Fuels
