Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the use of E10 fuel on the UK's carbon emissions.

Biofuels, such as ethanol, have a lower impact on net CO₂ emissions compared with fossil fuel derived petrol. In the consultation paper “E10 petrol, consumer protection and fuel pump labelling”, the Department noted that using bioethanol in place of fossil fuels can reduce CO₂ emissions by around 65% for an equivalent volume of fossil fuel. As a result, increasing the proportion of bioethanol in petrol from 5 to 10% could reduce the CO₂ emissions of a vehicle by around 2%. Recently, the Government has made significant progress in relation to policy on E10 and we will publish our response to the previous call for evidence on E10, as well as next steps, as soon as possible.