Biodiesel (FAME): Impact on the biosphere

When palm and soy expansion costs forests

What this tab covers Effects on human, animal, plant, fungal and microbial life and on whole ecosystems: in the short term (construction and early years), medium term (operating life) and long term (decommissioning and legacy).

Biodiesel's environmental record depends on the oil: waste oils have small impacts, while palm and soybean expansion has driven tropical land conversion, which ICAO and the EU count as a large added emission.

Indirect land-use change, palm oil (ICAO) 36.6 g CO2eq/MJ¹¹ EU default saving, palm biodiesel with open effluent ponds 20%⁴ EU default saving, waste cooking oil biodiesel 84%⁴

Effects over time

Life affected	Short term	Medium term	Long term
Humans¹⁰	Harvest work on oil plantations is often physically demanding and informal, with heat and pesticide exposure.	Mechanisation is reducing manual palm fruit collection, though its pace varies widely.	Little evidence of lasting effect beyond the farming phase.
Animals¹¹	Habitat loss where forest is cleared for oil palm or soy; not quantified in the sources reviewed.	Little quantified evidence in the sources reviewed.	Little quantified evidence in the sources reviewed.
Plants¹¹	Natural vegetation may be cleared for new plantations.	ICAO estimates indirect land-use change at 36.6 g CO2eq/MJ for palm oil, 20.7-22.5 for soybean and 22.8-23.9 for rapeseed (values for jet fuel made from these oils).	Camelina, an oilseed grown in rotation, scores negative land-use change (-11.5 g CO2eq/MJ).
Fungi and soil life¹¹	Little evidence of effect in the sources reviewed.	Little evidence of effect in the sources reviewed.	Little evidence of effect in the sources reviewed.
Ecosystems⁴	Palm oil mill effluent left in open ponds releases methane; the EU default saving for such palm biodiesel is only 20%, against 45% where methane is captured.	Waste cooking oil biodiesel saves 84-88%, using material that would otherwise be discarded.	Net benefit depends on whether high-carbon land such as peat forest is converted.

How the effects are reduced

Capturing methane from palm oil mill effluent more than doubles the default saving (20% to 45%). Using wastes and residues, or oil crops such as camelina grown in rotation, avoids or reverses land-use change emissions. Certification under the EU directive and ICAO's scheme sets sustainability criteria for feedstock origin. Algae would avoid cropland altogether but must first become a net energy producer.

Sources

Directive (EU) 2018/2001 (Renewable Energy Directive II), Annex V: typical and default greenhouse gas savings for biofuels (Parts A and B); fossil comparator 94 g CO2eq/MJ. Default values not changed by amending Directive (EU) 2023/2413 (RED III); a Commission revision was in draft in 2026 European Union (EUR-Lex), 2018
Renewable Energy and Jobs: Annual Review 2025 (Table 1, 2024 employment) IRENA and International Labour Organization, 2025
CORSIA Default Life Cycle Emissions Values for CORSIA Eligible Fuels (ICAO document 06) International Civil Aviation Organization, 2025