The Netherlands – Royal Dutch Shell plc of The Hague, Netherlands, announced its plan to construct a new biofuels facility which, when completed, will be one of the biggest in Europe to offer renewable fuels for a range of transport vehicles, including heavy-duty road transport. Production at the site is slated to begin in 2024. 

The new facility will be built at Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam and is intended to replace the former Pernis oil refinery. Upon completion, production capacity will reach 820,000 tonnes of fuel per year, which Shell claims will take 2.8m tonnes of CO₂ out of the economy annually when used instead of conventional fossil fuels. Not only will this make a significant contribution towards arriving at EU emissions targets, it will also further Shell’s own aim to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. As part of its Powering Progress strategy, the company aims to transform its 14 refineries into five energy and chemicals parks and to reduce production of non-renewable fossil fuels by 55% by 2030, replacing them with low- or zero-carbon renewables. It took its first step towards the former aim in July of this year with the opening of Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.