Less than 20% of biofuels meet basic environmental standards, reveals a report by the Renewables Fuels Agency.

The agency’s first monthly report (pdf) shows that biofuels account for 2.14% of UK road fuel against a target for the year of 2.5 %.

But only 19% meet environmental quality standards, compared to a target of 30% for the year.

The report, which covers the period 15 April to 14 May, examines the supply of biofuels under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO).

Although all UK-produced biofuels meet green standards, the market is dominated by imports – the environmental credentials of which are often unknown.

The UK produced less than 4% of the 87m litres of biofuels consumed during the period covered by the report.

Domestic feedstocks consisted of sugar beet (3.3m litres), used cooking oil (2.8m litres), oilseed rape (0.7m litres) and tallow (0.4m litres).

The most widely reported feedstock was American soya, used in 22% of biodiesel and Brazilian sugar cane, used in 79% of bioethanol.