It is a falling demand in several countries that is now causing energy giants such as Shell and BP to pause or downgrade investment in biofuel.
The energy company Shell puts the construction of a biofuel plant in the Netherlands on hold. British BP does the same in Germany and the USA.
Biofuel can otherwise be made from residual waste. But according to Shell, the company is putting its plans on hold because market conditions do not yet make the fuel competitive.
However, the head of Shell's investment in renewable fuels, Huibert Vigeveno, says the energy giant is still aiming for 'net zero emissions' by 2050.
The company writes this in a press release .
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This does not necessarily mean that Shell has finished emitting CO2 by that time, but that the company will compensate for it in other ways.
– We will continue to use the shareholders' capital in a well-balanced and disciplined way to deliver more value and less emissions, he says.
However, it is not only at Shell that the biofuel has run into a wall. In Sweden, sales have plummeted. But because the country's gas stations are required by law to have fuel from a renewable source in their tanks, a replacement is already ready. Read more about it here .
The news from Shell and BP does not mean that the focus is now exclusively on electricity for electric cars. In fact, more and more car brands are wavering in their belief that the electric car is the only right thing.
Most recently, both Mercedes and Volkswagen have announced that they will spend several hundred billion kroner on the development of the internal combustion engine. At Volkswagen in Wolfsburg, the money is taken directly from the development of electric cars.
Read more exciting news from and about the world of cars right here!