The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Transport (Baroness Sugg) (Con): ...These
regulations will amend two pieces of legislation relevant to
suppliers of fuels: the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations Order
2007—the RTFO Order; and the Motor Fuel
(Road Vehicle and Mobile Machinery) Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Reporting Regulations 2012—the greenhouse gas reporting
regulations. In September, the Government set out a 15-year
strategy for renewable transport fuels. This is an ambitious
strategy to support investment in sustainable advanced fuels of
importance to the UK and to help meet our carbon budget
commitments. These regulations are the product of that strategy and
are key to its implementation...
:...The noble
Lord, Lord , talked about the
long-term proposal. Obviously, as we transition to ultra-low
emission vehicles, we will continue to need low-carbon liquid and
gaseous fuels for decades to come, particularly in the aviation
sector. In the absence of new measures and given the expected
growth in the aviation sector, emissions are likely to increase,
so low-carbon fuels such as biofuels are considered the only
viable source of energy available to significantly limit aviation
emissions by 2050. Electric airplanes are in development, but I
think they are some years off. The UK aviation industry has for
some time advocated its eligibility for an award under
the RTFO because it would help to provide the
support needed, as the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, also
mentioned, to kick-start the use of aviation biofuels which at
present are not produced or supplied in the UK. The regulations
before us will enable renewable aviation fuels to
receive RTFO incentives for the first time, and
we hope very much that that will encourage the industry to grow.
The noble Lord asked about the availability of waste feedstocks
and the number of fish and chip shops both in this country and
abroad, given that we import some of our feedstocks. We have
carried out scenario testing to look at different waste supply
potentials. Stakeholders have been helpful in confirming that the
volume of waste feedstocks we think we will need to meet the
higher targets is likely to be available, and we therefore
continue to assume that the waste feedstocks can be supplied.
There is some uncertainty over exactly which feedstocks will be
supplied—noble Lords have mentioned cooking oil and tallow—but we
anticipate that much of the increase will come from the waste
already being used to make biodiesel. Furthermore, given the
post-consultation changes to the crop cap, which, as I said, will
start at a high percentage and gradually reduce towards 2032, we
consider that the risk of waste biofuels becoming more expensive
than the buyout is reduced. The development fuels sub-target is
also designed to increase the diversity of feedstocks used to
produce fuels.
I hope I have answered all noble Lords’ questions; if not, I will
follow up in writing. I thank noble Lords for their contributions
to the debate. The regulations are needed to support investment
in sustainable advanced fuels for automotive, aviation, road
freight and maritime; to provide certainty to UK producers and
the farms that will supply them that existing bioethanol capacity
will be fully utilised; and to help us meet our climate change
commitments. In meeting our commitments, low-carbon fuels will be
needed for decades to come, not least in the sectors that are
harder to decarbonise through electrification, such as heavy
goods vehicles and aviation. We feel that the targets in these
regulations are ambitious and will provide an important
contribution to UK carbon budgets. The amendments build on the
success of the RTFO to date in delivering significant
greenhouse gas emissions reductions. I hope your Lordships will
agree that the regulations are the best way to proceed with our
renewable transport fuels strategy.
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