(Scunthorpe) (Lab):...The
sustainability concerns over E10 are now resolved, and
the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation has
resumed its trajectory and has doubled this year. Bioethanol is the
cheapest means of meeting the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, but
its contribution is constrained due to the fact that the UK has not
yet introduced E10. Although a transition from E5 to E10 is
regarded as inevitable and environmentally desirable, it has not
yet happened, and the industry has endured years of delay. The
DFT’s consultation process late last year did nothing to accelerate
it and reassure the industry...
(Kingston upon Hull West and
Hessle) (Lab):...Vivergo closed—it announced that it was
closing on 2 August—because the Government did not introduce E10
as they had promised. Vivergo closed its headquarters, which were
in my constituency, and consolidated all its staff in the Saltend
Chemicals Park in the east of Hull. The Government passed the
RTFO in 2018, but they have continued to drag their heels on the
introduction of E10. Mark Chesworth, the managing director of
Vivergo, said that the closure was the Government’s fault,
because the political indecision had a highly damaging impact on
the business and its jobs, and left it vulnerable to changeable
market conditions...
(Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
(SNP):...One welcome UK Government measure is the staged
increase in the Renewable Transport Fuel
Obligation from 4.75% to 8.5%, from this month.
It is therefore counterintuitive for them not to introduce E10 as a
mandatory measure. I would like the Minister to comment on what
seems to be disjointed thinking, and what the Department for
Transport will do to rectify it...
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
Transport (Ms Nusrat Ghani):...Since its inception, the
policy on biofuels in the UK has been complex and not without
controversy. Immediately after the Renewable Transport Fuel
Obligation scheme—RTFO—was set in law in 2007,
the Gallagher review into the indirect effects of biofuel
production was published. It became clear that to maintain faith in
the emissions reductions achieved and to retain consumer buy-in, we
would have to address the negative indirect effects of certain
biofuels. To reward fuels that may perform worse than the fossil
fuels they replace would have undermined the rationale of a scheme
designed to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions...
...Since the RTFO was introduced in 2008, savings in greenhouse
gas emissions have increased significantly from 46% to 70% in
2014-15. Latest data suggest that current biofuels provide an
average 71% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions even when land
use change impacts are included, but it has always been essential
to evolve the policy on biofuel. That way, we maintain the
integrity of the schemes that promote its use, such as the RTFO.
Following the work of the taskforce and building on the success
of the RTFO, in September 2017, the Government set out a 15-year
strategy for renewable transport fuels. The strategy established
an investment platform to develop sustainable advanced fuels for
automotive, aviation and road freight. I am proud to say that, as
part of our strategy for renewable fuels, in March 2018,
regulations were agreed that make the UK the first to set targets
for renewables in transport beyond 2020, all the way to 2032; and
the first and only country to set development fuel targets to
drive a market for advanced low carbon fuels. For the first time,
we have made aviation fuels eligible for reward under the RTFO.
Our 15-year strategy for renewable transport fuels is designed to
maximise the industrial opportunities to be gained for the UK
while maintaining public confidence in the value of renewable
fuels...
...The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, as
amended last year, is expected to save nearly 85 million tonnes of
CO2 over the 15-year period from 2018,
which represents around a third of transport’s projected
contribution to UK carbon budget savings during the 2020s. In
achieving those savings there is an opportunity to increase the
amount of bioethanol in petrol, from 5% today up to 10%...
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