Biofuels ‘not the answer’ to shipping climate goals
Over 100 scientists have signed an open letter urging governments and international bodies, including the International Maritime Organization (IMO), to focus on genuinely sustainable, scalable fuels rather than relying on traditional crop-based biofuels.
The warning comes ahead of the COP30 summit in Belém, where Brazil is expected to launch a global pledge to significantly increase the use of ‘sustainable fuels’, including a substantial rise in biofuel consumption.
Brazil, currently the world’s second-largest biofuel producer, has been promoting biofuels as a solution to reduce shipping emissions. However, experts warn that without strong safeguards, this approach could replicate environmental and social crises previously observed in the road transport and aviation sectors.
Current IMO frameworks, including the Net-Zero Framework and the 2023 Revised GHG Strategy, lack clear sustainability criteria for biofuels. This regulatory gap could enable the rapid expansion of crop-based fuels without environmental or social protections, threatening climate progress, accelerating deforestation and exacerbating global food insecurity, says the letter.
Crop-based biofuels already consume millions of hectares of land and, when factoring in land-use changes, emit more CO2 than fossil fuels on average. Expanding their use in shipping could divert crops from food production, potentially affecting up to 1.3 billion people.
With global land use for biofuels projected to rise dramatically by 2030, scientists and civil society groups are urging the IMO to integrate indirect land-use change considerations into upcoming Life Cycle Assessment guidelines, scheduled for finalisation in April 2026.
Failure to act could see the shipping industry adopt ‘green’ fuels that worsen environmental and social outcomes rather than supporting a sustainable, low-carbon transition.
