Greenergy is the UK’s largest independent oil company with over 15% share of the UK road fuel market and is the largest supplier of biofuels with a 30%+ market share.
What has been the secret to Greenergy’s spectacular growth over the past decade?
Three things – service, cost and biofuel implementation. We have delivered the highest standards of customer service while operating from a very low cost base. By being an early mover on biofuels we benefited from the biofuel duty incentives which helped fund growth. A key driver as we move to the Renewable Energy Directive will be our ability to competitively supply certifiably sustainable biofuels and therefore de-risk the biofuel supply chain for our customers.
Greenergy has been a pioneer and industry leader in the sustainable sourcing of biofuels – what initiatives have you put in place to ensure the integrity of your supply chain?
Our first objective has been to develop full supply chain transparency across all biofuels and all feedstocks. We have taken third party audit action for every one of our biofuel feedstock supply chains – very different from simply obtaining a declaration from our suppliers about origin and sustainability. We have also combined our early understanding of the implications of legislation, whether the UK RTFO or RED, with a desire to do the right thing. That has resulted in a commitment to deliver sustainability programmes from scratch, such as for Brazilian sugar cane.
There is still more that can be done and we will be announcing another new initiative at World Biofuels Markets.
What does Greenergy think of the current iLUC debate?
The debate is both important and serious – so important that legislators must rely on evidence rather than complex predictive models. They should therefore wait until the tools exist to measure actual emissions from land use change. These are not far off. We’ve already shown that it’s possible to accurately measure direct and indirect LUC emissions at regional levels.
Where do you see the growth opportunities for the biofuels industry?
Biofuels have the potential to displace petroleum on both cost and environmental grounds. To achieve this, the biofuel industry must drive down greenhouse gas emissions, embrace supply chain transparency and demonstrate that it can be properly sustainable.
Andrew Owens is speaking at the 2010 World Biofuels Markets Conference in March where he joins 200 of the industry’s most influential speakers.
Click here for a full list of confirmed speakers
Click here for a full conference agenda
Greenergy was founded as a bedroom start-up in 1992 to supply fuels and energy with a reduced environmental impact. We have grown rapidly year on year, repeatedly ranking amongst the fastest growing privately owned companies in the UK.
We are now the UK’s largest independent oil company and one of its top three fuel suppliers with over 15% share of the UK road fuel market.
Greenergy is owned primarily by the Directors, with minority shareholdings by Barclays Natural Resource Investments and Tesco in the parent company Greenergy International.