What is biodiesel?

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel derived from vegetable oils or animal fats that can be blended with or replace conventional diesel. While biodiesel produced from waste materials can reduce global warming pollution by 80 to 90 percent, production from unused edible oils can drive deforestation, particularly through the expansion of palm oil in Southeast Asia. The document notes that policy-driven demand often exceeds the supply of low-carbon sources, risking the use of 'dirty sources' that undermine the fuel's environmental benefits. It distinguishes biodiesel from 'renewable diesel' and 'bio-jet' fuels, which are processed with hydrogen to create 'drop-in fuels' that are nearly indistinguishable from conventional petroleum fuels.

• Biodiesel produced from waste materials or used cooking oil offers significant climate benefits, potentially reducing global warming pollution by 80 to 90 percent compared to conventional diesel fuel.
• The use of unused edible oils like soy, canola, or palm oil for biodiesel is problematic because it increases the global vegetable oil market and drives deforestation, specifically causing social and environmental damage in Southeast Asia.
• Current policy-driven demand for biodiesel exceeds the available supply of low-carbon sources, which diverts vegetable oils from food markets and leads to the use of palm oil to fill the resulting supply gap.
• Renewable diesel and bio-jet fuels, known as "drop-in fuels," are processed with hydrogen to remove oxygen, making them effectively indistinguishable from conventional diesel and jet fuel and suitable for blending at almost any level.
• All current diesel vehicles can utilize a 5 percent biodiesel blend (B5), and while some trucks can use a 20 percent blend, distribution challenges have limited the adoption of these higher blends.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2012). What is biodiesel? https://www.ucs.org/resources/biodiesel-basics

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. What is biodiesel? 2012. https://www.ucs.org/resources/biodiesel-basics.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=What is biodiesel? |date=2 May 2012 |url=https://www.ucs.org/resources/biodiesel-basics |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2012what, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{What is biodiesel?}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2012}, month = may, url = {https://www.ucs.org/resources/biodiesel-basics}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }