New Regulations Protect Renewable Energy Suppliers and Tackle Sustainability Concerns

Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien has signed regulations that will exclude biofuel produced from palm oil mill effluent from the award of additional Renewable Transport Fuel Certificates. The National Oil Reserves Agency awards certificates for each megajoule of renewable fuel supply which can be counted by fuel suppliers against the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation.

The regulations amend the National Oil Reserves Agency Act 2007 (Additional Certificates for Renewable Transport Fuel) Regulations 2023 (S.I. No. 143 of 2023).

Palm Oil Mill Effluent, or POME, is a waste product of palm oil production. Sustainability concerns about this raw materials have been raised by both the National Oil Reserves Agency, which is Ireland’s national competent authority on this matter, and authorities in other EU Member States, in light of the ongoing risk of substitution of palm oil for other biofuel raw materials, for example through mislabelling, and more recent concerns about supply to the EU of biofuel derived from POME. The Department of Transport held a statutory consultation on the exclusion of POME-derived fuel from the award of additional RTFO certificates earlier this year.

The new regulations remove national incentives for supply of POME within the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, which places an obligation on fuel suppliers to ensure a minimum proportion of renewable fuel in all road transport petroleum products. The removal of national incentives for POME is therefore an important step in ensuring the sustainability of Ireland’s biofuel supply.