Neste, MAN and Altens sign partnership to promote renewable diesel in France

Photo: Neste Corp.

Sharing a common vision where biofuels have a key role to play in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions in transportation, Neste, MAN and Altens have signed a partnership contract aimed at promoting biofuels in France.

France is a strong market for fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) biodiesel, but according to Neste, many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) would like to see more renewable diesel, also known as HVO100, on the market.

The objective of the partnership “is to promote the common vision of Neste, MAN and Altens of the crucial role that biofuels can and must play in the sustainability transformation of the transportation of goods and people,” Neste stated.

“This partnership with Neste, a world leader in producing renewable diesel, and Altens, a multibiofuel supplier in France, reinforces MAN's multibiofuel approach,” said Jean-Yves Kerbrat, managing director of MAN Truck & Bus France. “MAN advocates sustainable biofuels as opposed to fossil fuels because they allow significant reductions in CO2 emissions and are easy-to-implement solutions in the short term.”

As an industrial-vehicle manufacturer offering several biofuel solutions (HVO100, B100 and biogas), MAN Truck & Bus France is convinced that biofuels are a solution that is available here and now, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions in the already existing vehicle fleets and engine technologies, not requiring any additional investments into these.

“Neste MY Renewable Diesel™ is a high-quality, high-performance fuel, a more sustainable alternative to fossil diesel, helping its users reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by up to 90 percent when emissions over the fuel’s lifecycle are compared with fossil diesel,” said Peter Zonneveld, Neste’s vice president of sales for renewable road transportation in Europe and Asia-Pacific. “With Neste MY Renewable Diesel, companies can reduce their climate emissions significantly in an instant by just changing the fuel. We are committed to supporting our customers to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 20 million tons annually by 2030.”

Neste MY Renewable Diesel is produced from 100 percent renewable raw materials. It is a drop-in fuel, fully compatible with all diesel engines, not requiring any modifications to the existing vehicles or fuel distribution infrastructures.

Neste currently has a renewable products global production capacity of 3.3 million tons annually.

Neste’s ongoing Singapore expansion project and the joint venture with Marathon in Martinez, California, that is still pending for closing, will increase the total production capacity of renewable products to 5.5 million tons by the end of 2023, and make Neste the only global provider of renewable fuels and renewable feedstock for polymers and chemicals with a production footprint on three continents.

When completed, the Rotterdam refinery expansion project will further increase the company’s total production capacity of renewable products to 6.8 million tons by the end of 2026.