Shipping industry’s biofuels plan threatens rainforests, communities and climate

Trend Asia issues a statement urging the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to exclude biofuels from the Global Fuel Standard (GFS) to prevent environmental degradation and social harm. The organization argues that replacing shipping's fossil fuel demand with biofuels would exacerbate deforestation, food insecurity, and land grabbing, particularly in the global South.

• The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is negotiating climate laws for international shipping across three meeting series in February and April 2025 (ISWG-GHG-18, ISWG-GHG-19, and MEPC 83). A central component is the Global Fuel Standard (GFS), intended to incentivize clean energy to meet a commitment of net-zero GHG emissions by around 2050.
• Brazil has proposed biofuels as a long-term shipping power solution. Trend Asia contends this is unsustainable given Brazil's role as the world's second-largest biofuel producer, noting that soy cultivation occupies an area comparable to Sweden and that palm oil production is linked to illegal land grabbing and water pollution.
• The use of Biodiesel and Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) in shipping is linked to severe ecological and social impacts. HVO production often relies on fossil-fuel-derived hydrogen, potentially making it more emissions-intensive than petroleum products. Furthermore, vegetable oil biofuels (soy and palm) can have life-cycle emissions exceeding those of fossil diesel and are associated with deforestation, pesticide pollution, and the marginalization of women.
• The promotion of Used Cooking Oil (UCO) as a sustainable feedstock is criticized due to limited availability and high prices, which incentivize fraud and the mislabeling of palm oil as UCO in Southeast Asia. Additionally, palm oil derivatives like POME and PFAD are allegedly falsely labeled as residues to receive incentives under Europe’s Renewable Energy Directive.
• Trend Asia advocates for alternative decarbonization strategies for shipping, including stricter energy efficiency standards, innovative ship designs, wind assistance propulsion, and a reduction in the total volume of goods transported by sea.

APA

TrendAsia (2025). Shipping industry’s biofuels plan threatens rainforests, communities and climate. Trend Asia. https://trendasia.org/en/shipping-industrys-biofuels-plan-threatens-rainforests-communities-and-climate/

Chicago

TrendAsia. Shipping industry’s biofuels plan threatens rainforests, communities and climate. Trend Asia, 2025. https://trendasia.org/en/shipping-industrys-biofuels-plan-threatens-rainforests-communities-and-climate/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=TrendAsia |title=Shipping industry’s biofuels plan threatens rainforests, communities and climate |publisher=Trend Asia |date=17 February 2025 |url=https://trendasia.org/en/shipping-industrys-biofuels-plan-threatens-rainforests-communities-and-climate/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{trendasia2025shipping, author = {TrendAsia}, title = {{Shipping industry’s biofuels plan threatens rainforests, communities and climate}}, publisher = {Trend Asia}, year = {2025}, month = feb, url = {https://trendasia.org/en/shipping-industrys-biofuels-plan-threatens-rainforests-communities-and-climate/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }