Welcome to Carbon Brief’s China Briefing.
Carbon Brief handpicks and explains the most important climate and energy stories from China over the past fortnight. Subscribe for free here.
Snapshot
EV INVESTIGATION: China deemed the “formal” launch of the EU’s investigation into Chinese subsidies for electric vehicles as a “naked act of protectionism”, but refrained from making similarly strong public remarks during a visit from EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis.
DOUBLING NUCLEAR: The China Nuclear Energy Association said China can greenlight six to eight new nuclear power units a year, with the technology’s share of electricity doubling to 10% by 2035 and then 18% by 2060.
TREE RULES: China reformed communal forest tenure systems to encourage environmental protection and provide another revenue stream for low-income rural households. The rules could encourage the development of carbon sinks – or increase logging activity.
SPOTLIGHT: As China’s “belt and road initiative” celebrates its tenth anniversary, Carbon Brief asked four experts what it could mean for climate action in the decade ahead.
NEW SCIENCE: Studies found that citizens experience relatively limited levels of “energy justice” under China’s implementation of energy transition policies and, separately, that there were “substantial health co-benefits” from residential decarbonisation, particularly in northern China.
Key developments
EU split over Chinese EV probe
EV SPLIT: The European Commission has “formally launched” an anti-subsidies probe into electric vehicles manufactured in China, a process that should last one year, reported Bloomberg. The investigation was triggered by a request from France, according to the Hong-Kong based news outlet the South China Morning Post (SCMP). France has already changed “eligibility rules” to “make sure French state cash is not benefiting Chinese carmakers”, reported Reuters. But German chancellor Olaf Scholz has opposed the commission’s move on the grounds that “our economic model should not be based or rely on protectionism”, reported another Reuters article. The bloc’s solar, wind and battery manufacturers have also sought support to compete against cheap Chinese competition, reported SCMP. German-language business newspaper Handelsblatt said the EU plans policies to make its wind industry more competitive with Chinese manufacturers.
CHINA’S REACTION: Beijing repeated its “strong dissatisfaction” with the investigation, calling it “a naked act of protectionism”, reported state news agency Xinhua. However, Bloomberg noted that China did not “publicly” share that criticism during commission executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis’ four-day trip to the country, shying away from confrontation amid “a broader push to stabilise geopolitical relationships [and] an economic slowdown at home”. Another Bloomberg article said that Tesla will be a significant focus of the EU investigation, having “enjoyed perks in China that other international companies struggled to obtain”. Elsewhere, Xie Zhenhua, China’s special envoy for climate change, “stressed the importance of opposing trade protectionism” at a summit in China, reported CGTN, a state-affiliated Chinese media outlet. The Communist party-backed People’s Daily published a commentary under the “Zhongyin” byline – a nom de plume for top party leadership – saying the fact that “more than 60% of the world’s new energy vehicles are produced and sold in China” was an example of the country’s economic dynamism.
METALS SCRAP: Meanwhile, debate continues over China’s dominance of critical mineral supply chains, with the Financial Times reporting comments by US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm saying the situation could make the global energy transition “infinitely more complex”. China’s export of germanium, used for making solar panels and other technologies, fell to “zero” in August after the government imposed export controls, reported TechSpot. At the same time, China has told local EV companies to procure chips and other components domestically to “set up a self-sufficient EV supply chain”, reported DigiTimes Asia. However, Reuters reported that US firm AXT and a number of unnamed Chinese firms had received export licences in September for “gallium and germanium products” for certain customers.
Growing role for nuclear
10% BY 2035: Nuclear power’s share is expected to double to 10% of China’s electricity by 2035 and then grow to 18% by 2060, with installed capacity climbing from 57 gigawatts (GW) today to 400GW by 2060, according to the China Nuclear Energy Association (CNEA), Reuters reported. The outlet said China expected to approve “six to eight new nuclear power units” every year from now on. The state-run newspaper China Daily quoted Wang Binghua, the director of CNEA’s nuclear energy public communication committee, as telling the Paper: “In the context of achieving both the carbon goals and ensuring economic growth, nuclear energy has demonstrated its irreplaceable advantages.” According to the outlet, he said reaching the 10% projection would cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by about 920m tonnes over this period. (For more background, see Carbon Brief’s Q&A: How China is using nuclear power to reduce its carbon emissions.)
SHIFTING VIEWS: Meanwhile, China Daily published comments made in a speech by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Rafael Grossi, who said that the public’s view towards nuclear energy has shifted. He stated that the “emergency” brought about by climate change was “undeniable” and that nuclear energy could play a “positive role” as part of the solution. “In the past few years, we have not been vocal enough about the benefits of nuclear power, but that page has been turned,” he added.
New forestry rules
CARBON SINKS: China released a plan to reform its communal forest tenure system in order to “enhance farmers’ incomes and promote green growth”, reported state news media CGTN. One aim of the plan is to “improve forest quality”, the outlet said, adding that “green industries, such as ecological tourism, maintaining healthy forests and environmental education” will be established. Business news outlet 21st Century Daily noted in an opinion column that the plan “encourages eligible places to carry out forestry carbon sink projects and establish a forestry carbon sink trading market”. The Legal Daily reported that the measures call for provinces to “strengthen the supply capacity of important primary forest products…and encourage provinces, cities and counties with forest resources to cultivate forestry ‘pillar industries’”. In an email to subscribers, consultancy Trivium China said the reforms could lead to greater logging activity.
CCER TRADING: Meanwhile, business news outlet Jiemian published comments by experts on the inclusion of forestry carbon sinks in China’s certified voluntary emission reductions scheme (CCERs). They explained some of the risks involved in the scheme, including guarding against oversupply, filling “legal gaps” in the policy framework and finalising mechanisms for distributing the proceeds of credit sales.
China’s ‘key role’ at COP28
CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: COP28 president-designate Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber wrote in an opinion article for state news agency Xinhua that China will play a “key role” in delivering on a COP28 agenda that “aims at fast-tracking an equitable and orderly energy transition, fixing climate finance, and focusing on people’s lives and livelihoods, while underpinning everything with full inclusivity”. He added that China is critical both for “driving clean energy adoption” in the global south and for supplying funding to support other developing nations’ energy transitions. Separately, China News quoted Zhang Jun, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, as saying that China’s climate actions stand in sharp contrast to the “empty promises” of western nations. Elsewhere, Foreign Policy said foreign minister Wang Yi is expected to travel to the US in October to manage their “increasingly frosty relations” and to “pave the way for a highly anticipated, but still unscheduled meeting between US president Joe Biden and Chinese president Xi Jinping”.
COAL CONTINUES: Meanwhile, speaking at a forum in Beijing, China’s climate envoy Xie Zhenhua said that the “complete phasing-out of fossil fuels is not realistic”, reported Reuters. This came as Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post covered a report from energy consultancy Rystad Energy finding that “China will increase its coal consumption until 2026 and will only record declines after 2027”.
Spotlight
How will China’s belt and road initiative impact climate action?
China will host the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation this month, as “2023 mark[s] the 10th anniversary of the belt and road initiative (BRI)”, Reuters reported. More than 110 countries are set to attend.
The BRI is a global infrastructure project that aims to develop transcontinental trade routes between China and the rest of the world. With China having stated an intention to pivot the initiative towards low-carbon energy development, Carbon Brief asks leading experts what impact the BRI might have on climate action in the decade ahead. Their responses have been edited for clarity and length.
Prof Kevin P Gallagher, director of the Boston University Global Development Policy Center:
As the BRI moves into its second decade, China can solidify its pivot toward low-carbon development in the global south. According to our research at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, in the early stages of the BRI the majority of China’s overseas energy finance was…in fossil fuels in general and coal-fired power plants in particular. Emissions from the operating Chinese-financed power plants around the world now emit upwards of 245m tonnes of CO2 annually, roughly the energy-related CO2 emissions from the entire country of Spain or Thailand annually. In 2021, China announced it would not build new coal-fired power projects abroad and to step up support for low-carbon development. Moving forward, China could pledge to ramp up overseas financing for low carbon development and adopt a green project pipeline facility to ensure alignment with these directives.
Prof Lin Boqiang, dean of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy, Xiamen University:
In some countries along the “belt and road”, despite the rapid growth of energy demand, the development of green energy is limited due to their relatively backward economic and technological level and the lack of advanced clean-energy technology and facilities. Through the construction of renewable energy projects, such as wind and solar power, China can provide technical, financial and experience support to host countries to promote the development and upgrading of their renewable energy industries. By providing more clean-energy supplies to these countries…China helps them reduce their dependence on traditional energy sources and promotes energy transformation and green development. At the same time, some countries along the belt and road have problems such as unstable energy supply, energy poverty and low energy efficiency…Cooperation to develop renewable energy projects…will help these countries improve their energy security and promote sustainable development along the belt and road.
Yasiru Ranaraja, founding director of the Belt and Road Initiative Sri Lanka (BRISL)
China’s commitment to shift the BRI towards low-carbon energy development has significant implications for climate action in the coming decade…China, through the BRI, has emerged as a crucial player in advocating a three-phase approach to low-carbon development: funding, construction and operation. Under the BRI umbrella, numerous infrastructure projects…are dedicated to green development…For example, in Sri Lanka, the Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT), which is an investment development project under BRI, has embraced green technology since its inception in 2014.
This terminal has witnessed a remarkable increase in cargo volumes over the years while prioritising environmental sustainability. The shift to electric cranes has resulted in a 45% reduction in CO2 emissions and a 95% decrease in diesel consumption…Additionally, more than 80% of the terminal’s electricity comes from solar technology. The terminal’s success story…exemplifies how commercial prosperity and environmental protection can coexist harmoniously.
Prof Christoph Nedopil Wang, director of the Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University:
China controls almost all parts of the green-energy supply chain – from critical minerals for batteries to wafer production for solar, from manufacturing wind turbines to the necessary financing. Without China’s cooperation, a green-energy transition is hardly achievable – whether in the BRI or beyond…BRI countries, meanwhile, must improve their energy planning, energy policy and power markets to be able to attract sufficient Chinese investments in green energy. This should include a phase-down of fossil subsidies and better utilisation of blended finance to reduce financing cost for green energies, as well as longer-term green energy PPAs (power purchase agreements). A big question remains on the accelerated phase-down of Chinese sponsored coal-fired power plants and replacement with green energy. A recent study by the Green Finance & Development Center and Climate Smart Ventures shows significant financial benefits for Chinese sponsors of plants in Vietnam and Pakistan when accelerating retirement and replacement.
Watch, read, listen
PEAK OIL: The Financial Times explored the tension that exists between China’s role as the largest global consumer of oil and the minor role that oil plays in China’s energy mix, following comments by the chief executive of one of China’s largest oil companies that “perhaps this year China’s domestic oil demand will reach a peak”.
CRITICAL MINERALS: In the third part of a series on China and energy geopolitics, the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies discussed China’s importance for the critical minerals used in new energy supply chains and what its dominance could mean for the future.
METHANE RESEARCH: The Woodrow Wilson Center interviewed Dr Hu Tao, founder of the Lakestone Institute for Sustainable Development, on his institute’s work on methane mitigation from food waste and manure in China, as well as on his views on how China’s voluntary carbon credit scheme (CCERs) could mitigate agricultural methane.
MARKET MECHANISMS: Caixin published part of the upcoming report on China’s “carbon neutral strategy and path selection”, written by the Boao Forum for Asia Academy. The report advocates improving market mechanisms to support a “just” energy transition, such as research investment, carbon markets, power grid pricing and funding non-renewable “clean” energy solutions.
New science
Costs and health benefits of the rural energy transition to carbon neutrality in China
Nature Communications
A study found that residential decarbonisation “would remarkably improve air quality in northern China, yielding substantial health co-benefits”. Decarbonising rural cooking and heating, the researchers added, “would triple contemporary energy consumption from 2014 to 2060”, which would considerably reduce energy poverty in China. The effects would be most strongly felt in Shandong, Heilongjiang, Shanxi and Hebei provinces.
Assessing energy justice in climate change policies: an empirical examination of China’s energy transition
Climate Policy
A new study explored “key aspects of energy transition policy implementation in China” through the lens of distributional, recognition and procedural justice. From a case study assessing China’s ‘coal-to-gas’ energy transition policy in rural regions, it found a “markedly low” level of procedural justice, linked to poor access to political participation and low transparency. It also found “insufficient acknowledgment of the needs of specific groups” during the energy transition. By contrast, the level of distributional justice, defined as equitable allocation of benefits, was “reasonably high”.
China Briefing is compiled by Anika Patel and edited by Wanyuan Song and Simon Evans. Please send tips and feedback to china@carbonbrief.org.
The post China Briefing 5 October: EV investigation; Forest rules; BRI and climate appeared first on Carbon Brief.
China Briefing 5 October: EV investigation; Forest rules; BRI and climate
Marcelo Behar is the COP30 Special Envoy for Bioeconomy and co-founder of Ambition Loop Brazil.
Can we be the generation to end the rampant deforestation that is harming the planet’s ecosystems and climate? Back in February, the Brazilian COP30 Presidency opened a call for submissions on its proposed Roadmap for Halting Deforestation and Forest Degradation, which closes today.
What might look like a technical step quickly drew significant attention, with more than 100 responses submitted by governments, civil society organisations, businesses and other stakeholders.
This level of engagement is telling. It reflects both the urgency of the issue and the recognition that this process could shape whether the global goal to end deforestation by 2030 finally moves from ambition to delivery.
As a Brazilian, I see this moment with both pride and realism. Brazil has played a central role in elevating forests on the climate agenda, and the COP30 Presidency has shown leadership in carrying this issue forward far beyond the Belém summit.
COP30 rainforest fund unlikely to make first payments until 2028
But last year also offered a sobering signal. Despite strong efforts from the Brazilian Presidency, the proposed roadmap did not secure consensus in the final outcome of COP30. That outcome underlined a simple truth: while there is broad recognition of the importance of forests, agreeing on how to move forward remains complex. The road ahead is still long and likely uneven.
That is precisely why this moment matters.
Progress on commitments falling short
The world is not short of commitments. Over the past decade, countries have repeatedly pledged to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. There is a growing body of experience through the REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) programme, including the emergence of jurisdictional approaches that are beginning to connect forest protection with finance at scale.
Initiatives such as the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership have helped sustain political attention and cooperation among countries, while national strategies continue to evolve, and Indigenous Peoples and local communities remain at the forefront of protecting forests.
And yet, progress is still falling short.
The gap is not only one of alignment. It is also one of political will – and of having a credible, shared pathway that brings together these efforts in a way that drives implementation at scale.
Civil society is watching this process closely. For many organisations working across climate, nature and conservation, this is not just another initiative – it is a priority. After years of advocating to end deforestation, there is a strong sense that this moment cannot be lost. The expectation is clear: this roadmap must move beyond intention and help unlock real progress.
The opportunity now is to ensure that it does exactly that. This cannot become another report.
Implementation key to roadmap success
A detailed assessment of pathways and challenges, however valuable, will not be enough to change outcomes on the ground. What is needed is an implementation roadmap, one that connects existing commitments, aligns incentives and provides clarity on how to move from ambition to delivery between now and 2030.
The consultation process is an important step. But its value will ultimately be judged by what it produces.
If the roadmap is to succeed, several priorities should guide its development.
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First: policy. It must be designed as a tool for implementation. That means going beyond diagnosis to define concrete action: who needs to act, by when, and how progress will be tracked. The solutions are not new, but coordination has been missing.
Second: accountability. It should bring coherence to the existing landscape. The value of a roadmap lies not in creating new commitments, but in connecting what already exists: global targets, REDD+ experience, national action plans, Indigenous leadership and supply chain initiatives. Reducing fragmentation is essential to accelerating delivery.
Early milestones needed
Third: finance. It must be grounded in economic reality. Halting deforestation will not happen without addressing the incentives that underpin it. Aligning public finance, private investment, and market demand with forest protection is not a technical detail; it is the core of the transition.
Fourth: transparency. Legitimacy will depend on openness. A credible roadmap cannot be developed behind closed doors. Governments, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, civil society, business and finance actors all have a role to play and must be able to see how their contributions shape the outcome.
Fifth: urgency. Progress must be visible in 2026. Without early milestones, momentum will fade. By the time climate negotiators gather in Bonn mid-year, the roadmap should have a clear structure, priority actions and growing political backing.
Governments must deliver on the plan
Finally, countries themselves will need to step forward. Last year’s outcome showed that support alone is not enough. Delivering this roadmap will require active political engagement. That means governments that are willing not only to participate in the process, but to help shape and implement it.
Brazil has created an important opening. It has also taken on the responsibility that comes with leadership: to help turn a widely supported idea into something that can deliver in practice.
The commitment to end deforestation by 2030 already exists. What is still needed is a path. And the courage to walk it.
The post How a Brazil-led roadmap can rescue global pledge to halt deforestation appeared first on Climate Home News.
How a Brazil-led roadmap can rescue global pledge to halt deforestation
A US biofuels producer that exports “green” aviation fuel to Britain and the European Union has purchased beef tallow from a Brazilian supply chain tied to illegal deforestation in the Amazon, shipping data and a court document show.
Diamond Green Diesel (DGD), a major provider of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel, has sourced hundreds of thousands of tonnes of beef tallow from Brazil, alongside waste fats from other sources, over the last three years, as global demand for biofuel feedstocks soars.
Reporting by Unearthed and nonprofit investigative outlet Repórter Brasil reveals DGD’s connection to a rendering plant that has sourced supplies from a meatpacker fined for buying cattle from an illegally deforested Amazon reserve. A previous investigation by Reuters and Repórter Brasil found DGD had bought animal fat from two other rendering factories linked to supplies of cattle from illegal ranches.
The newly identified factory, Pacífico Indústria e Comércio de Óleos e Proteínas Ltda, which is based in Cacoal, a small city in the far-western Amazon state of Rondônia, has been supplied by Rondônia meatpacker DistriBoi, a 2022 court document shows.
DistriBoi was fined two years ago for illegally purchasing cattle from the state’s Jaci-Paraná conservation reserve, which has been ravaged by illegal ranching.
There is no suggestion that the companies involved were aware of deforestation at farm level. But the findings suggest a traceability gap in the supply chain of feedstocks for sustainable fuels, where cattle by-products are subject to less oversight than the primary commodities of the cattle industry, such as meat and leather.
Pristine rainforest blanketed the Jaci-Paraná reserve when it was created 30 years ago to protect traditional forest activities such as rubber tapping and nut harvesting.
Today, illegal ranching has devoured nearly 80% of its forest cover and it has become a notorious example of the devastation wrought by land grabbers in the world’s largest rainforest.
“The damage to biodiversity has been devastating,” said local Indigenous activist Neidinha Suruí, who featured in the 2025 Emmy Award-winning documentary “O Território”.
“It is sad to see what has been lost,” she said.
Greener air travel?
The “renewable diesel” and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) that are being exported by DGD – a joint venture between US oil refiner Valero Energy Corp and Texas-based Darling Ingredients – are classed as “green” because they are made from feedstocks classified as waste, including tallow, which consists of fat separated from cattle carcasses.
Many governments and airlines are pinning their hopes for greener flying on SAF made with organic waste materials, including Britain which introduced a compulsory blending requirement last year.
Top green jet fuel producer linked to suspect waste-oil supply chain
Air travel accounts for about 2.5% of global carbon emissions and in contrast to other transport sectors that can be electrified, shrinking aviation’s carbon footprint is much more difficult.
Waste products such as beef tallow and used cooking oil (UCO) are considered the greenest of viable SAF feedstocks on the grounds that they do not create competition with foodstuffs such as soy oil or palm oil, nor increase deforestation pressure.
But there is concern that the global rush to ramp up SAF use could indirectly exacerbate deforestation pressure by increasing demand for feedstocks such as tallow and UCO.
That could increase the profit margins of cattle ranches – including illegal ones – and have other unintended consequences, such as encouraging fraud in supply chains, as Climate Home News has reported.
An investigation published in March by Climate Home News and Swedish broadcaster SVT found that Finnish biofuels giant Neste is sourcing key ingredients for its SAF from an opaque supply chain that enables fresh palm oil to be passed off as used, waste oil.
Because tallow is classified as waste by regulators in markets including the UK and EU, the green fuel industry’s most widely used certification scheme – International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) – does not assess whether forests were cleared to rear the cattle that produced it in the first place.
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This allows tallow from cattle to qualify as a sustainable feedstock for green fuels, even if they were raised on illegally deforested land.
“There is clearly an oversight within the rules if the products, in this case animal tallow, are originally coming from deforested land,” said Cian Delaney, a campaign coordinator at the clean transport and energy advocacy group Transport & Environment.
That means government SAF mandates aimed at stemming air travel emissions could help boost the earnings of cattle ranchers linked to illegal deforestation in Brazil, where ranching and other forms of agriculture have been the main driver of forest loss.
Land grabbers clear way for ranchers
Once covered by an unbroken rainforest canopy, Rondônia’s Jaci-Paraná reserve has been decimated by illegal deforestation driven by cattle ranching – a major cause of tree loss in the Amazon.
Land-grabbers have seized – often violently – and cleared more than three-quarters of its forest for pasture, as ranching has steadily advanced into the southern Amazon.
Suruí, the local Indigenous activist, said companies that buy products derived from illegal activities perpetuate environmental crimes in the rainforest.
“If there were no meat processors buying illegally sourced cattle, there would be no land grabbing and no deforestation,” Suruí told Repórter Brasil, which partnered on the new investigation with Unearthed, and a team of journalists supported by JournalismFund Europe.
Lawsuits and linked supply chains
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has pledged to end all deforestation in the country by 2030, in part by strengthening environmental enforcement in the world’s biggest rainforest.
In Rondônia, authorities have launched more than 50 lawsuits related to land-grabbing and deforestation in the Jaci-Paraná reserve alone. Local slaughterhouse DistriBoi is named in 31 of the lawsuits, including the 2024 case in which it was fined.
According to the 2022 court document, which concerned an unrelated labour dispute, lawyers for Pacífico refer to DistriBoi as the rendering plant’s “largest supplier of raw materials”.
US-based DGD received almost 15,000 tonnes of tallow from Pacífico from 2023 to 2025 at its Texas refinery, as well as used cooking oil from various countries and sources, according to trade database Panjiva.
Darling Ingredients is also a parent company of Pacífico since its 2022 acquisition of Brazilian rendering company FASA Group.
A spokesperson for Darling Ingredients denied that Pacífico had sourced beef residues from DistriBoi’s Ji-Paraná slaughterhouse – one of two that the meatpacker operates in Rondônia.
“The rendering plant Pacífico does not source any materials from the slaughterhouse Distriboi in Ji-Paraná,” the spokesperson said in an emailed response, without providing evidence or commenting directly on the content of the 2022 court document.
Darling did not respond to a follow-up question about Distriboi’s other slaughterhouse in the region, which, according to cattle transfer documents, has also bought from a farm that has illegally cleared forest within the extractive reserve.
“Our relationships are typically with the slaughterhouse, several levels removed from cattle ranchers. Regardless, we are committed to ensuring our raw materials are deforestation free. We expect our raw material suppliers to abide by our supplier code of conduct. In addition, we are in the process of requiring all [the] raw materials to attest that their material is deforestation free,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
DistriBoi said in an apparent reference to the pending Jaci-Paraná lawsuits that “the matters mentioned … are already under review, including by higher courts”. It has previously denied wrongdoing. The company’s statement did not address a question about its commercial ties to Pacífico.
Valero Energy, the major refiner that co-owns DGD with Darling Ingredients, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did DGD itself.
From slaughterhouse to SAF
In an effort to rein in carbon emissions from air travel, regulators in Britain and the EU have mandated progressively increasing SAF blending quotas in the years ahead, creating a new market for feedstocks including beef tallow.
Brazil’s exports of tallow to the US have risen sharply in recent years, up from less than 10,000 tonnes in 2021 to almost 400,000 tonnes last year, according to Panjiva, reflecting growing demand for biofuels like SAF.
In the UK, Europe’s biggest aviation market by seat capacity, jet fuel was required to contain 2% SAF by the end of 2025, rising to 10% by 2030 and 22% by 2040.
DGD shipped 134,000 tonnes of SAF worth nearly $90 million from Texas to the UK in 2025, according to trade data from Panjiva. The company also exported smaller amounts of renewable diesel to Britain.
The EU received biofuels, including small quantities of SAF, worth over $1.1 billion from DGD’s Texas refinery last year, figures show.
Is the world’s big idea for greener air travel a flight of fancy?
Unearthed’s investigation could not identify which airlines or airports buy DGD’s SAF once it arrives in Britain.
Valero, DGD’s other parent company, is positioning itself as a key player in the transition to lower-carbon fuels in the UK, where it markets its renewable diesel under the Texaco brand.
It has been an active participant in SAF policy discussions and has criticised the government’s planned cap on waste fat sources in SAF, calling them “the world’s most cost-effective production route for SAF” in a submission to parliament.
Helping to cut emissions?
Even tighter oversight over SAF feedstocks is crucial to ensure that blending mandates such as Britain’s are effectively lowering emissions, said Anna Krajinska, a director at Transport & Environment UK.
Forests store vast amounts of carbon; when they are cut down or burned this carbon is released into the atmosphere.
“If there’s tallow coming from land that’s been deforested, then those emissions might be so high that you might not be getting to the greenhouse gas reduction threshold,” Krajinska said.
But as the world’s appetite for flying keeps on growing, some experts say SAF is the only viable means to reduce aviation emissions at present.
Referring to the deforestation links identified in Unearthed’s investigation, Wouter Dewulf, an aviation economist at Belgium’s University of Antwerp, said it “would be important to assess how large this infraction is”.
“I’m quite sure you have aberrations,” Dewulf added. “But biofuels are the best alternative for the moment.”
T&E’s Delaney said there needs to be less opacity and better oversight from regulatory authorities. “Right now, there are just too many blindspots,” he added.
The post UK imports of “green” jet fuel linked to Amazon deforestation appeared first on Climate Home News.
UK imports of “green” jet fuel linked to Amazon deforestation
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No project better embodies the nation’s wild swings in climate and energy policy than the Keystone XL pipeline.
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