Britain exceeds biofuels target - govt agency

Thomson Financial News Super Focus, October 7, 2008 Tuesday 2:35 PM GMT - Britain is exceeding its 2.5 percent target for biofuels use in motor fuel but several oil companies have failed to meet environmental goals, a government agency said on Tuesday.

'These early figures demonstrate that some companies have risen to the challenge of sourcing biofuels to meet good sustainability standards,' Nick Goodall, chief executive officer of the Renewable Fuels Agency said in a statement.

The agency said that several companies had, however, failed to report any biofuels as meeting qualifying environment standards, including BP and Exxon Mobil's Esso.

Companies exceeding the environmental targets included Shell and Greenergy, which is part owned by retailer Tesco .

Britain does not currently require that environmental standards are met.

The target for biofuels use became effective on April 15 and the report covered the first three months up to July 14. The report put biofuels use at 2.61 percent of motor fuel, slightly above the 2.5 percent target.

Biodiesel accounted for 84 percent of biofuels use with soy the most important feedstock (41 percent) followed by rapseed (27 percent), tallow (12 percent) and palm (11 percent).

Biofuels are currently produced mainly from grains, vegetable oils and sugar crops. They are seen by supporters as a way to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and cut emissions of the greenhouse gases believed to contribute to climate change.

Critics fear, however, that expanding production of certain feedstocks such as palm oil may have led to rainforest destruction and so accelerated climate change.

(Reporting by Nigel Hunt; Editing by Peter Blackburn) Keywords: BRITAIN BIOFUELS/

October 7, 2008