Overview
Biofuel spans aviation, maritime, road transport and energy, and mandatory blending requirements are now in force or incoming across all of them.
The challenge for businesses is not just understanding which regulations apply. It is knowing whether the fuel in your supply chain is genuinely what it claims to be. Certification is a starting point, not a guarantee.
Feedstock fraud is a documented and growing problem, concentrated in Southeast Asian supply chains that much of Europe’s biofuel market depends on. Businesses that treat certification as the finish line are the ones most exposed when regulators look harder.
DoubleHelix can help your business understand what biofuel is, why the mandates matter and what genuine supply chain verification looks like in practice.
Biofuel is a category, not a single product. That distinction matters more than most people realise. Whether you are sourcing fuel for aircraft, vessels, trucks or energy systems, this is no longer a niche consideration. It’s becoming a compliance requirement, a procurement decision and, for unprepared businesses, a significant supply chain risk.
The conversation has moved on from whether biofuels will play a role in decarbonisation. They already are. Governments across Asia and Europe have committed to mandatory blending targets. Regulators are closing the loopholes. And the penalties for getting it wrong, operationally, financially and reputationally, are growing.
This hub is a resource for procurement leads, sustainability managers and compliance professionals who need to understand what biofuel is, where the mandates are heading and, critically, why having the right certification is only part of the answer.
Table of Contents
Why Biofuel Is Being Mandated Now
The compliance clock is running across multiple sectors simultaneously. This is not purely an aviation story, nor is it a singularly European objective. Mandate pressure is building in Europe and Asia, across shipping, aviation, road transport and energy.
The Asian framework
Asia is not waiting for the EU to lead. Singapore confirmed a SAF levy applying from April 2026, with charges for departing flights beginning October 2026. It is one of the first jurisdictions in Asia-Pacific to move from policy to implementation, and it signals a broader shift in how the region is approaching aviation decarbonisation.
On the maritime side, Singapore overtook Rotterdam as the world’s premier biofuel bunkering port in late 2024. That is not a minor development. It reflects the scale of Singapore’s bunkering infrastructure and the pace at which alternative marine fuels are entering commercial use.
Across the wider region, Japan has set a 10% SAF blending target by 2030. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are developing their own SAF supply chain roadmaps. And internationally, CORSIA, the aviation industry’s global carbon offsetting scheme, enters its mandatory phase in 2027, creating a verification requirement for airlines worldwide regardless of where they operate.
The European framework
The EU’s Renewable Energy Directive III, known as RED III, sets a binding 29% renewable energy target for transport by 2030. Within that, there is a 5.5% sub-target specifically for advanced biofuels: the waste and residue-based fuels that carry the highest incentives and, as we will come to, the highest fraud risk.
Critically, RED III now explicitly brings aviation and maritime into scope for the first time. This is a significant shift. For aviation, the ReFuelEU mandate requires SAF blending at EU airports, starting at 2% in 2025 and rising to 70% by 2050.
For maritime, FuelEU Maritime entered full application on 1 January 2025, setting greenhouse gas intensity targets for vessels using EU ports. Shipowners must now monitor, report and verify their fuel emissions against annual reduction targets that tighten progressively through 2050.
Underpinning all of this is the EU’s Union Database, which makes supply chain traceability enforceable in a way it has not been before. Mass balance accounting, the process of tracking sustainability attributes through complex supply chains, is now a regulatory requirement. The UK has also introduced its own SAF mandate, requiring a 2% blend from 2025, rising to 22% by 2040. The direction of travel is clear and consistent.
The Verification Problem: How Do You Know It's Really Sustainable?
Here is the question that sits at the heart of the biofuel challenge: how do you know that the fuel you are buying is actually what it says it is?
In early 2026, Indonesian authorities arrested eleven people accused of facilitating the export of hundreds of millions of euros’ worth of crude palm oil fraudulently mislabelled as Palm Oil Mill Effluent, or POME. POME is classified as a waste product, which means it qualifies for the advanced biofuel incentives that carry double-counting benefits under European renewable energy legislation. Palm oil, by contrast, is being phased out of European biofuel policy due to its links to deforestation.
Investigators found that volumes of POME being exported from Indonesia had been consistently exceeding what the country could plausibly produce. Europe was importing more POME than the entire global supply of the material. This discrepancy had been flagged by researchers since 2021, but had not triggered enforcement action until now. This is not an isolated incident. It is simply the most visible example yet of a structural problem running across biofuel supply chains globally.
The International Sustainability and Carbon Certification body, ISCC, has acknowledged cases of mislabelling and has been running an Integrity Programme focused on Asia since 2022. It has recently proposed 18 additional measures to strengthen verification of waste and residue-based biofuels and launched a new working group on feedstock verification. These are responses to a problem the existing system did not catch.
For your business, the implication is direct. If deforestation-linked material entered your supply chain labelled as biofuel waste, you may have claimed incentives you are not entitled to and made sustainability commitments you cannot substantiate, even with valid certification documents in hand.
Certified does not mean verified. That distinction is not a technicality. It is the difference between genuine supply chain assurance and exposure you may not know you have.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF): Aviation's Biofuel Moment
Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) deserves its own focus because it sits at the sharpest point of mandate pressure right now. Aviation has historically been harder to decarbonise than surface transport, and SAF is the primary tool regulators and the industry are relying on to close that gap.
The mandates are real, and the timelines are set. ReFuelEU in the EU and the UK SAF mandate both create direct obligations on fuel suppliers at airports. For airlines, the obligation is less direct, but the commercial and reputational pressure is significant. CORSIA’s mandatory phase from 2027 will require airlines on international routes to address emissions growth, and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is a primary compliance route.
The scale of demand growth adds further pressure. Aviation and shipping together are projected to account for approximately three-quarters of new biofuel demand by 2030. This surge is why feedstock competition is intensifying and why Southeast Asia, as the dominant source of palm-derived feedstocks, sits at the centre of both the opportunity and the risk.
Indonesia and Malaysia currently account for approximately two-thirds of ISCC CORSIA certificates, the primary certification route for SAF qualifying under the international aviation scheme. That concentration of certification activity in a region where supply chain fraud is an acknowledged and active problem is not a coincidence. It is a vulnerability that procurement teams sourcing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) need to take seriously.
Singapore and Asia: Where the Biofuel Opportunity Is Taking Shape
Singapore occupies a unique position in the global biofuel story. As the world’s second-largest port and a major aviation hub, it sits at the intersection of mandate pressure and supply chain risk. It is also one of the most proactive jurisdictions in Asia on fuel transition, across both aviation and maritime.
For maritime fuel, Singapore’s emergence as the world’s leading biofuel bunkering port reflects both its geographic position and the quality of its bunkering infrastructure. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore encourages ISCC certification across all biofuel bunker deliveries and is actively developing the licensing framework for alternative marine fuels, including methanol and biomethane, with biomethane supply being developed from neighbouring Malaysia. There is genuine regulatory intent here, not just ambition.
For aviation, Singapore’s SAF levy represents a structural cost that will drive airlines to engage with SAF supply chains rather than absorb the surcharge. As procurement activity increases, so does the need for supply chain assurance.
The risk dimension is equally significant. Southeast Asia is a major source of feedstocks underpinning Europe’s advanced biofuel supply. The POME fraud arrests in Indonesia reflect a pressing concern in the supply chains that many businesses are relying on today.
DoubleHelix has been actively engaged in the biofuel space through its ISCC and GGL certification work in Indonesia and through recent discussions with maritime government stakeholders in Singapore. The regulatory intent in this region is clear. The verification infrastructure is still catching up. That gap is precisely where compliance risk sits.
How Certification Works: ISCC, GGL and Verification
ISCC, the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification system, is the leading global certification standard for sustainable biomass, bioenergy and biofuels. ISCC EU certification is recognised under RED III and is the primary route for demonstrating compliance with European renewable fuel obligations. ISCC CORSIA is the equivalent scheme for aviation fuel under the international standard.
GGL, the Green Gold Label, is a leading certification standard for biomass sustainability, recognised in European renewable energy frameworks and used across the forestry, agricultural and energy sectors.
What certification provides is a verified statement that a product met certain sustainability criteria at a specific point in its supply chain, at the time the certificate was issued. ISCC certificates are valid for one year. High-risk supply chains require a surveillance audit within the first year. In practice, the assurance a certificate provides is time-limited, scope-limited and depends entirely on the quality of the audit behind it.
The certification system is also evolving in response to the fraud cases emerging from Southeast Asian supply chains. ISCC has proposed mandatory on-site audits for non-EU producers in high-risk jurisdictions, increased mass balance scrutiny and harmonised requirements across certification bodies. These are improvements that regulators and the industry agree are necessary.
For a detailed guide to ISCC certification and who needs it, visit our ISCC certification page. For GGL certification, see our GGL Certification page.
What Businesses Need to Do Now
The businesses most exposed to biofuel supply chain risk are not necessarily the ones with the weakest compliance processes. They are often the ones who have treated certification as the finish line rather than the starting point. The time to build verification capability is before the audit. Here is where to focus.
1. Understand your biofuel exposure across all fuel types
If you are sourcing HVO for logistics, SAF for aviation or biomethane for energy, each carries its own certification requirement and supply chain risk profile. Map what you are buying, what it is made from and which mandates apply.
2. Know which regulations govern your operations
RED III, FuelEU Maritime, ReFuelEU, CORSIA, the UK SAF mandate and Singapore’s SAF levy each have different timelines and scopes. The interaction between them, particularly for businesses operating across jurisdictions, requires careful mapping rather than a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction approach.
3. Ask feedstock questions, not just certification questions
Where does your fuel come from? What is it made from? Who verified that, and when? Does the certified volume match what could plausibly have been produced from that feedstock source?
4. Connect your fuel sourcing to your GHG reporting
Biofuel sustainability claims feed directly into your emissions reporting. If the feedstock origin of your fuel is uncertain, the integrity of your carbon reduction claims is uncertain too. See our GHG Verification page for more on how this connects.
How DoubleHelix Can Help
DoubleHelix works with businesses across the biofuel supply chain to close the gap between certification and genuine verification. We do not issue a certificate and leave. We help you understand what your certification actually covers, where the gaps in your supply chain assurance are and what to do about them. Our certification services include:
ISCC certification
Helping businesses achieve and maintain ISCC EU and ISCC CORSIA certification across biofuels, biomass and bioenergy. See our ISCC Certification page for more information.
GGL certification
Supporting businesses that need GGL-certified biomass for energy or fuel applications. See our GGL Certification page for more information.
GHG verification
Verifying the greenhouse gas emission claims that flow from your fuel sourcing decisions, for reporting and regulatory compliance purposes. Visit our GHG Verification page for more information.
We operate on the ground in Southeast Asia, the region where feedstock risk is concentrated and where the regulatory response is actively taking shape. Our team has been engaged directly in discussions with maritime government stakeholders in Singapore and maintains active certification work in Indonesia. That proximity gives us a practical understanding of supply chain conditions that desk-based auditing cannot replicate.
Whether you are navigating your first biofuel certification requirement or reassessing whether your existing supply chain assurance is fit for purpose, we can help you build the verification capability you need before you need it.
Speak to us about biofuel certification and supply chain verification.