Is biofuel fraud undermining EU climate policy?

A new investigation has revealed that a biofuel company called System Ecologica scammed the International Sustainability Carbon Certification, petrol companies, and EU governments, in a biofuel fraud case totalling tens of millions of euros. Regulators are increasingly worried that other companies may similarly be passing off unsustainable, imported vegetable oil as used cooking oil (UCO). This would have severe implications for emissions, deforestation, and the viability of a key EU climate initiative.

The findings were reported by Eli Moskowitz from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Mira Sys from Follow the Money, along with Mubarek Asani from the Bosnian Center for Investigative Reporting. Bertie caught up with Eli and Mira to get the full story.

Further reading:

• Read Eli, Mira and Mubarek's story on OCCRP here.
• 'Multimillionaire convicted of tampering with biodiesel', Follow the Money, 22/7/23 (Dutch)
• 'Europe Battles Flood of Green Fuel Suspected to Be Fraudulent', Bloomberg, 27/4/23
• 'Industry suspects fraud as flood of Chinese biodiesel destabilises market', Euractiv, 8/6/23

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