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A leading biofuels scientist is backing the government's plan to require the use of biofuels in petrol and diesel from next April.
All fuel will be legally required to contain a percentage of biofuel, made from renewable sources such as used vegetable oils or animal fats.
Some environmental advocates have labelled the plan "greenwashing", saying New Zealand cannot possibly source enough of the right kind of waste to make the amount of biofuel that will be required to meet the mandate, and that importing biofuel will be damaging to the global environment.
Dr Paul Bennett is chair of the International Energy Agency for Bioenergy and Portfolio Leader for Integrated Bioenergy with Scion Research.
He says New Zealand has considerable science expertise in biofuels and researchers have made a number of advancements in liquid biofuels and bioenergy.