Eni, a multinational energy company, has definitively ended the procurement of palm oil for use at the Venice and Gela biorefineries for the production of hydrogenated biofuels.

According to one of the seven “supermajor” oil companies in the world, the last shipments arrived in the last few weeks, ahead of the declared goal of becoming ‘palm oil-free by the end of 2022.

Eni’s biorefineries in Venice and Gela are already fuelled with ‘waste & residue’ raw materials, such as used cooking oil and animal fats, for more than 85% of their processes, as well as other biomasses regulated by current national and European regulations.

In November, the first load of vegetable oil produced in the Makueni agri-hub in Kenya will arrive at the Gela biorefinery, where castor, croton, and cotton seeds are pressed.

Eni noted that these agri-feedstocks, produced by Eni, do not compete with the food chain. They are grown in degraded areas, harvested from wild trees, or derived from the enhancement of agricultural by-products.

In addition to the country’s agri-feedstocks, whose production will reach 2,500 tonnes of oil by the end of 2022 and 20,000 tonnes by 2023, there is also the collection of waste and residues, including used vegetable oil, collected in Kenya. The first shipments are on their way to Italy and up to 5,000 tonnes are expected to have arrived by 2023.

In 2014, the biorefinery in Porto Marghera, Venice became the first example in the world of converting an oil refinery into a biorefinery, and today Eni is the first energy major to build a vertical integration model for the supply of its plants, enabling it to promote more sustainable local development in Africa.

Eni’s biorefineries produce hydrogenated HVO biofuels which are destined, either purely or in blended form, for diesel engines, biodiesel for the chemical supply chain, biogpl, and biojet for air transport.

However, Indonesia and Malaysia are looking to shore up demand domestically and in China, with the EU having changed course away from biofuels. Back in 2003, the European Union ruled that biofuels must make up 5.75% of the bloc’s transport fuel by the year 2010 – a goal that was updated in 2009 to 10% by 2020.

Intended to help tackle climate change, the move had the opposite effect. Emissions resulting from changing tropical landscapes to grow biofuel crops were three times higher than from the fossil fuels they replaced, according to a report.

Biofuels– liquids or gases made from plant products including oil crops such as palm, soy, corn, coconut, and rapeseed, are not the sound green alternative to petrol and diesel they were once thought to be.

Europe recently amended regulations to limit future imports of palm oil for biofuels. But rising demand in Indonesia, Malaysia, and China could make up for this market shift in Southeast Asia, where roughly 90% of the world’s palm oil is produced. There are concerns that palm oil for biofuels could replace growing the crop for food and cosmetics as the key driver of deforestation. Given this, it can be concluded that Eni has taken the right decision to end the use of palm oil for biofuel.