Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of including Hydrogen fuel cells used by NonRoad Mobile Machinery within the scope of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation subsidy.

The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) supports the use of low carbon fuels in surface transport, including specific non-road mobile machinery (NRMM). While hydrogen fuel cell generators are not currently covered by the definition of non-road mobile machinery, renewable electrolytic hydrogen used in fuel cells is supported under the RTFO when used in a range of transport modes, including road vehicles, trains, maritime and inland waterway vessels.

Small but growing volumes of hydrogen have been supplied under the scheme in recent years.

As part of a statutory review of the RTFO, the Department for Transport recently ran a Call for Evidence covering both the past performance and future of the scheme. Government is currently considering the responses submitted, including on hydrogen fuel cell generators, before publishing a summary of responses and setting out next steps.