A European Union-authorized auditing company assessment showed that three Chinese biofuel exporters’ waste products from Malaysia and Indonesia could not be validated.
This month, Germany requested a European Union probe into China’s biofuel imports to determine if they exceed EU sustainability standards.
The Germany-based International Sustainability and Carbon Accreditation (ISCC), certifying fuel sustainability, halted the accreditation of two enterprises in Yangpu on Hainan Island and Zhanjiang on the mainland.
In audit findings issued to the ISCC’s online database of tens of thousands of biofuel producers and traders, the companies were suspended for a month and could not export to the EU. The suspensions are new.
The ISCC suspended Hainan Hanpu Import and Export Trade, Hainan Bomi, and Wuchuan Maosheng Bio-energy. The month-long suspensions began in early May and June. Wuchuan Maosheng Bio-energy’s suspension ended at the end of May.
The ISCC suspended the companies due to record inaccuracies, traceability issues, and raw material mislabeling.
The three firms and the ISCC did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
EU incentives for biodiesel generation from waste oils and fat to expand renewable energy consumption have pushed Asian companies to combine biofuels with cheaper oils, mainly palm oil, and ship them to Europe, according to the leading European industry association EWABA.
This month, the European Waste-based & Advanced Biofuels Association warned that China’s “dubious or fraudulent” biodiesel shipments might collapse the EU’s biofuels industry.
The three suspended enterprises’ ISCC audit paperwork identifies Indonesian or Malaysian palm oil as part of their raw ingredients.
Palm oil from the two countries is subject to high European import taxes since the EU does not consider it sustainable.
According to two European trade sources, the mainland-based enterprise trades ethanol with Yangpu-based biofuel blenders on Hainan Island.
