Whistleblower Alleges Systemic Failures in UK-Approved US Biofuel Sustainability Certification

Just weeks after the UK agreed to scrap tariffs on US ethanol imports as part of the US-UK trade deal — a decision that could potentially force British producers to shut down — a whistleblower is challenging the integrity of the sustainability certification process for US corn ethanol exported to the UK under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation.

In the UK, bioethanol is primarily used as a fuel additive for petrol, specifically in E5 and E10 blends, and corn bioethanol, imported from the US made up around 11% of all biofuels used here in 2024, according to UK Government statistics.

The US imports were certified as sustainable under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) system which, according to its website, is one of the world’s largest certifiers of liquid biofuels. 

An ex-auditor who worked directly for a Certification Body (CB) responsible for ISCC compliance in the US has shown Byline Times extensive documentation alleging widespread non-compliance and deliberate cover-ups.

The former auditor, who declined to be named, first complained to the ISCC in December 2022, and, to date, is still waiting for a reply notifying him of the outcome. His last request for an update, on 31 July 2024, was not acknowledged.

Principle Two of the ISCC framework mandates “environmentally responsible production to protect soil, water and air”. 

During audits, however, the whistleblower routinely found significant violations of the standards required for certification, including improper and excessive fertiliser use, disregard for runoff risks, and a lack of any understanding of ISCC criteria among farmers. 

The whistleblower alleges that, over a span of seven years, no instances of non-compliance were raised with farmers and attempts to do so were met with resistance not only from ethanol producers and grain storage facilities, but from the CB. He also accuses senior CB leadership of setting up a system of non-enforcement.

According to the whistleblower, ethanol manufacturers understand ISCC requirements, but by controlling upstream supply chains and paying for certifications, they ensure that their ethanol is exported to the EU and UK under the guise of sustainability.

“These guys want to sell their bioethanol to Europe, and they don’t really care if it’s sustainable or not, just that they can get it over there,” he told Byline Times. 

The whistleblower claims that the grain storage hubs, which collect corn from multiple farms, often tried to influence the audits by flooding the meetings with their representatives creating an intimidating and obstructive environment. The whistleblower also described being followed, and monitored, during audits, undermining the independence of the process.

Farmers, he said, had no knowledge of ISCC certification standards before their first audit and were not given any practical guidance on how to meet sustainability requirements.

“So it was just luck if any farm passed the audit,” he claimed. 

The whistleblower maintains that the ethanol manufacturers’ enormous demand for corn, and their fear that producers will take their business elsewhere, created a widespread “cultural expectation” that farmers will not be removed from the ISCC standard, or be required to improve their sustainability practices, regardless of performance.

Documents seen by Byline Times confirm that an official complaint, submitted by the whistleblower on 12 December 2022, warned ISCC that “auditing practices have been eroded into a rubber-stamping process and a zero tolerance for criticism of farming practices”. 

A subsequent email documented how, after issuing a series of non-compliance notices – including improper application of nitrogen fertilisers, excessive use of fossil fuels, and absence of soil testing – several influential bioethanol companies lodged complaints against the whistleblower.

The whistleblower claims that rather than investigate his claims, the CB removed him from duties connected to auditing key bioethanol operators in the North American supply chain. 

The whistleblower commented in his evidence to ISCC: “This is an endemic issue… I have extensively audited a wide array of ISCC audits across multiple industries and scopes but have found nothing else even remotely resembling this level of greenwashing or disregard for the standard.”

Although ISCC’s initial reply confirmed that the complaint was being investigated, no further information on its outcome has been supplied to date, the whistleblower said.

In its most recent communication, on 25 July 2023, a representative from ISCC wrote: “I cannot provide you with ‘some kind of verification’ at the moment apart from my assurance that the investigation is still on-going and is being taken seriously within ISCC.” The email trail shows that all subsequent requests for updates were ignored. 

The whistleblower told Byline Times: “This is the first time I have ever encountered a situation where it seemed like they [the CB] were actively trying to suppress me. 

“So that was really a shock for me. There was just this massive army of people amassed against me to try to get me to not do things.” 

The whistleblower initially made contact with Byline Times via Biofuelwatch, a UK-based environmental organisation that campaigns against the negative impacts of large-scale industrial biofuel and bioenergy projects.

Almuth Ernsting, a researcher and campaigner at Biofuelwatch, says the whistleblower’s claims expose serious flaws in the UK’s approach to biofuel sustainability.

“The UK has been importing US corn ethanol that fails to meet supposed sustainability standards yet nonetheless gets rubber-stamped by a sustainability certification scheme,” she said. 

This is not the first time the ISCC has come under fire, and Ernsting maintains that the findings point to broader systemic failures in the certification of biofuels and other types of bioenergy, both within the UK, and globally. 

“Investigations by other organisations have long shown that, for example,  biofuels from ‘certified used cooking oil’ frequently contain other feedstock, likely virgin palm oil.  Sustainability standards, whether of biofuels or wood-biomass, are essentially a tick-box exercise that lacks credibility,” she said. 

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “We take the concerns raised seriously and are working with stakeholders and international partners to gather further information.

“Fuel regulated under our schemes is subject to robust checks. If evidence of fraud or non-compliance is found, we have powers to withhold or revoke certificates, issue civil penalties and, where appropriate, refer the matter to the relevant authorities.”

This is the same statement the DfT gave the press in April following claims that fossil diesel or virgin palm oil was fraudulently being passed off

The ISCC did not reply to a request for a statement.