Greenpeace: Neste palm oil-based biodiesel not so green

Swedish filling station chain cancels deal with Neste

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A full-page advertisement in Tuesday's Helsingin Sanomat by Neste Oil promoting its biodiesel as an environmentally friendly option was immediately disputed by the environmental organisation Greenpeace.
      According to the advertisement, biodiesel reduces emissions of greenhouse gases.
     
Greenpeace calls the oil a "rain forest fuel", and says that the production of its raw material, palm oil, increases greenhouse gas emissions, rather than reducing them.
      "The production of palm oil is one of the greatest causes of deforestation in Southeast Asia. Neste Oil says that it imports the oil from Malaysia, but the company that they use plans to expand to Indonesia, where 80 per cent of deforestation stems from the production of palm oil", says Harri Lammi of the Finnish section of Greenpeace.
      From last summer Neste Oil has used palm oil as the main raw material of its new biodiesel fuel. Neste's new facility in Porvoo on Finland's south coast produces 170,000 tonnes of biodiesel, out of 200,000 tonnes of raw material - plant and animal fats. The company says that palm oil accounts for 50 - 80 per cent of the raw material. Other sources include Finnish rapeseed oil and animal fats.
      Jarmo Honkamaa of Neste Oil says that the palm oil comes from Malaysia from monitored plantations. The subcontractor is a company called IOI.
     
"Our palm oil can be traced back to the plantations. The plantations have been examined by a foreign company, and they have made a report. We didn't get top marks on every aspect, but there are no great causes for concern", Honkamaa says.
      The palm oil used by Neste Oil is shipped to Finland. Honkamaa says that the company makes sure that the oil is transported separately from that which comes from other sources. This is to make sure that the oil that ends up in Finland is the same that is produced in Malaysia's supervised plantations.
     
Honkamaa says that Neste Oil has been actively developing a certification system for sustainable palm oil production, called the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil, or RSPO.
      "We will use certified palm oil as soon as possible, and IOI is also committed to this", Honkamaa says.
      The certification system is not yet in use, and Lammi of Greenpeace sais that Neste cannot claim in its advertising that a single drop of the palm oil that it uses is extracted without damage to the rain forests.
     
"It seems unlikely that certification would have any significance, because such a small proportion of producers will be a part of it", Lammi says.
      He cites the increasing demand for palm oil, and the resulting temptation to cheat.
      "If demand increases, there will be more producers, and when the oil brings a good price, it will be produced in an unethical manner", Lammi says.
     
Taking a different view is the WWF, which sees certification to be a good way to make sure that palm oil is produced in an ethical manner.
      WWF has worked in cooperation with Neste Oil, and others.
     
Following protests by Greenpeace, the Swedish filling station chain OKQ8 announced that it would cancel its plans to market biodiesel fuel produced by Neste Oil.
      Greenpeace sees the decision by OKQ8 as a victory for the climate.
      The move is seen as a serious blow to Neste, which hopes to become the world's leading producer of second generation biodiesel fuel.
      Biodiesel production has begun in Porvoo, and Neste and the Austrian oil company OMV are planning to set up a joint biodiesel refinery in Austria.
      The Swedish filling station chain decided three weeks ago to buy biodiesel from Neste, expressing confidence that the raw material comes from monitored and certified sources.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Biofuel buses introduced in Helsinki public transport (28.9.2007)
  Finnish oil company Neste to invest billions in biodiesel production (28.9.2006)
  Every second bus in Helsinki may soon run on second-generation biodiesel (20.4.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat