Australia's canola industry is pushing for a country-specific carbon intensity rating to avoid being penalised under the global Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (Corsia), delegates heard at the Australia Oilseeds Forum.
Australian canola is grouped under a global category in the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification's (ISCC) Carbon Footprint Certification (CFC), a voluntary scheme that measures greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from feedstocks like canola oil. The certification helps producers of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel demonstrate compliance with Corsia and Europe's Renewable Energy Directive (RED).
Under ISCC's default lifecycle assessment (LCA) for Corsia, SAF produced from canola oil carries a base LCA value of 47.4g CO2 equivalent (CO2e)/MJ, plus a penalty for indirect land-use change (ILUC) of 24.1g CO2e/MJ for EU-sourced oil and 26g CO2e/MJ for other regions, including Australia. The ILUC penalty considers emissions from land-use changes such as deforestation from increased crop production.
SAF made from rapeseed or canola oil is all eligible to be used to meet targets under the Corsia scheme. Corsia requires that SAF achieves a minimum of 10pc GHG reduction over its lifecycle compared with a baseline 89g CO2e/MJ for conventional jet fuel. Using default values, SAF from EU-sourced rapeseed oil achieves 19.7pc reduction, and SAF from non-EU canola oil achieves 17.5pc.
But SAF that achieves higher GHG savings may be able to fetch a premium in the market for allowing users to reduce their overall emissions more quickly. Reducing Australian canola's ILUC penalty to lower its overall carbon intensity score could help make SAF from Australian canola oil more competitive in the global market.
ILUC penalty "expensive" for Australian growers
A presenter from GrainCorp at the Australia Oilseeds Forum on 21 October said the current ILUC penalty is "expensive" for Australian growers who have been farming on the same land since canola was first grown commercially in Australia in the 1970s. Australia is more frugal with its fertilizer use than other canola-growing regions, they added.
Australia does not have a specific ILUC value because the ISCC prioritises regions with large biofuel trade flows, such as the EU, US, Brazil, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Removing or reducing the ILUC penalty for Australian canola could increase demand, boost prices and encourage further decarbonisation, advocates said.
Australia has some of the lowest emissions in the world because it is more likely to be rain-fed rather than irrigated, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) said. The country's dry climate also reduces GHG released from the soil from fertilizer use compared with wetter regions. Australian canola has a low enough carbon footprint that, even after shipping and refining, it can still be delivered to EU customers within the target emissions savings of 50-60pc, CSIRO said.
Canola alternatives
Australian canola seed has an average carbon footprint of about 0.468t of CO2e, according to the CSIRO. The carbon footprint for EU rapeseed is 0.73t CO2e, ISCC data show, while the environmental footprint of Canadian canola seed can range from 0.365-0.488t CO2e depending on where it is grown, data from the Canola Council of Canada show. Carbon footprint calculations are before crushing and do not include emissions from possible ILUC.
The EU's ReFuelEU directive — which currently legislates the only operational SAF blending mandate at 2pc in 2025 and drives the bulk of SAF demand globally — does not allow SAF made from crop-based feedstocks, including canola oil.
Australian biofuel companies are exploring alternative feedstocks that are considered advanced under the ReFuelEU, allowing the SAF produced to be double-counted towards annual targets and making them potentially lucrative.
Oil major BP is trialling carinata, a non-food oilseed similar to canola, which has a low carbon intensity score of 21.7g CO2e/MJ and may receive a negative ILUC rating due to its non-food status and role in improving the soil as a cover crop. Other forum speakers, including Australian bioenergy developer Jet Zero, are looking into pongamia, a tree crop not yet approved under ISCC but valued for its low-carbon, non-food profile and ability to sequester carbon. Several companies have identified pongamia as a promising crop that may be suitable for planting on severely degraded land, another advanced feedstock category under the ReFuelEU.
