- New report ahead of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of the European Automotive Industry analyses how the oil industry promotes biofuels using vague, overly optimistic language that can obscure the complexities and limitations of these fuels.
- Social media accounts advocating for biofuels often also spread misinformation about electric vehicles (EVs).
- Biofuels are not inherently zero-emission: they produce CO₂ during various stages of their lifecycle, potentially mitigating positive effects.
- The report calls for a nuanced debate on road transport decarbonisation, warning that simplistic narratives can delay effective climate action.
12 September 2025 – “Generalistic and imprecise” – that’s how industry communicates about biofuels, according to a new report by EFCSN member organization, Verificat. In the report, the fact-checkers analyse how big oil companies talk about biofuels ahead of the European Commission’s Strategic Dialogue on the Future of the European Automotive industry. This is especially important because some actors push for biofuels to be considered ‘zero-emissions’, when in reality, they do emit CO₂ when produced, converted, transported, distributed, and burned.
A qualitative analysis of social media discussions around biofuels also reveals that accounts which advocate for biofuels are also prone to spread misinformation on EVs. Furthermore, biofuels are promoted through techno-optimistic narratives. Some experts criticise that those narratives might slow down a meaningful green transition.
The European Union has set the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, and among the measures adopted in order to achieve this, a regulation was approved in 2023 that will allow only for ‘zero-emission’ cars and vans to be sold in the EU from 2035 onwards. The transportation sector is essential to the EU’s 2050 carbon neutrality goal; cars and trucks alone account for 15% of all CO₂ emissions in the EU.
The Strategic Dialogue serves as a place for engagement with industry toward this goal, but it is essential that all actors be on the same page regarding the reality of pros and cons of alternatives such as electric cars and biofuels, which are often the subject of significant misinformation. This is especially true in the context where some actors push for a softening of the zero-emission regulation.
Biofuels are often presented as a lower emission alternative, making them, alongside electric vehicles, key for meeting Europe’s goals. Yet, biofuels are complicated, and while they certainly can play an important role in decarbonizing the transportation industry, they also can fuel deforestation and even increase emissions. These issues are further explored in Verificat’s report.
Engaging with the nuanced way biofuels can contribute to decreasing emissions while considering possible risks with their implementation, rather than oversimplified narratives presented by the oil industry, is essential in the upcoming Strategic Dialogue.
Marc Masip, Editor in Chief of Verificat, said: “Scanning through the industry communications, we did not find explicit disinformation. Companies tend to use an unspecific language that makes fact-checking extremely difficult. Still, the general message is an almost miraculous optimism towards biofuels and their potential to decarbonize road transportation, that dwarfs or even omits the limitations and controversies of these products. We saw this oversimplification replicated in X posts made by Spanish users with an extra twist: some people build on the idealisation and propose biofuels as a real and current alternative to electrification of cars and vans. Some of these messages include explicit disinformation widely fact-checked throughout European countries. Getting to know the big picture and diving in the grey areas is fundamental in order to have an informed debate on the alternatives of road transport decarbonisation.”
Access the full report in English on the EuroClimateCheck website.
