Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support the Government plans to provide for farmers to de-carbonise agricultural vehicles.

The Government is committed to take action to mitigate climate change and to adapt to its impact. We have committed significant funding for agri-tech innovation, including research and development to move us towards net zero farming systems. We will offer financial assistance to enable farmers, foresters, and growers to invest in the equipment, technology, and infrastructure that they need, to improve their productivity, manage the environment sustainably, and deliver other public goods.

In addition, The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) supports the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from fuel supplied for use in transport. The RTFO is a certificate trading scheme which rewards those supplying low carbon fuels in the UK for use in road vehicles and some other forms of transport, including tractors.

Low carbon fuels supplied under the RTFO saved 2.88 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions in just the last three quarters of 2018. The Government has nearly doubled targets for supply from 2018 to 2020, and set further targets out to 2032, providing investment certainty.

Agricultural fuel and energy use represent around 1% of the total UK emissions, and constitutes just 10% of agricultural sector emissions.