The environmental association Quercus wants the closure of BioAdvance’s biofuel production unit at the port of Figueira da Foz, on the coast of the Coimbra district, whose public licensing consultation ends today.
“Even the fact that the unit is built and, allegedly, in operation before the end of the public consultation period is a reason for astonishment, demonstrating the little importance that the citizen’s opinion has in the making of this type of environmental licensing decisions, even when supported by the opinions of the competent authorities,” says the association, in a statement sent today to the Lusa agency.
Highlighting that there are numerous “irregularities and well-founded suspicions regarding this project,” Quercus regrets that the public petition from the Vila Verde parish population, challenging the odors and gases produced by the unit, did not receive consideration from the competent authorities.
The environmental association fears that the project will be approved, even taking into account all the faults and nonconformities, and not forgetting the alleged ongoing operation without environmental licensing.
“All of this situation is aggravated by the fact that this unit is located in the Mondego Estuary, with an area of 1,200 hectares, which constitutes a zone of high natural interest due to the diversity of organisms it houses,” the statement notes.
Quercus also believes that the probable economic and social effects on downstream populations should not be underestimated, in fishing, salt production, and tourism.
The environmental organization demands that the environmental licensing be denied and that the activity be halted, with the dismantling of the industrial unit.
The company installed at the port terminal of Figueira da Foz had been operating in 2025 without the proper licences and was investigated for the possible crime of pollution with public danger.
Its installation arose from a concession contract signed in August 2022 with the port authority, which issued in December of the same year the license permit, after a submission approved by the System for Incentives to Business Innovation – Green, and the project had been recognized as having National Potential Interest (PIN).
In February 2025, the Centro Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDRC) confirmed the suspension of the PIN project status for lack of Digital Installation Title, “which would enable the execution of the Type 1 industrial establishment project.”
The Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade of Portugal (AICEP) also invoked the lack of licences for the unit to suspend the PIN project status.
Although licensing had not yet been approved, in March 2025 the company had received about four million euros in EU funds, according to data consulted by the Lusa agency.
At the end of May, a new public consultation opened for BioAdvance’s Single Environmental Licensing process on the Participa portal, which ends today.
