Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect on UK carbon emissions of switching from diesel to hydrogenated vegetable oil as a transition fuel for industrial machinery.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Defra has made no such assessment and is not taking steps to incentivise this switch.
The supply of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) as a fuel in road transport and in non-road mobile machinery is supported under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) certificate trading scheme. In 2021 HVO biodiesel supplied under the RTFO provided an average 89% greenhouse gas emissions saving compared to diesel. No data is gathered on the split between road vehicle and other end uses covered by the RTFO. It is also worth noting that the carbon reduction benefits of biofuels will vary depending on how they are produced. In 2021 the vast majority of HVO supplied was produced from used cooking oil. The average carbon reductions of some crop-based biofuels are significantly lower.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to incentivise switching from diesel to hydrogenated vegetable oil as a transition fuel for industrial machinery.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Defra has made no such assessment and is not taking steps to incentivise this switch.
The supply of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) as a fuel in road transport and in non-road mobile machinery is supported under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) certificate trading scheme. In 2021 HVO biodiesel supplied under the RTFO provided an average 89% greenhouse gas emissions saving compared to diesel. No data is gathered on the split between road vehicle and other end uses covered by the RTFO. It is also worth noting that the carbon reduction benefits of biofuels will vary depending on how they are produced. In 2021 the vast majority of HVO supplied was produced from used cooking oil. The average carbon reductions of some crop-based biofuels are significantly lower.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) hydrotreated vegetable oil and (b) other alternative low-carbon solutions to heat pumps on the level of consumer choice.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government published impact assessments alongside consultations on phasing out the installation of fossil fuel heating off the gas grid, on 19 October 2021. The Government will respond to those consultations and set out further details in due course.
The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) scheme continues to drive a market for low carbon liquid fuels. Under the RTFO scheme, sustainable low carbon liquid fuels, including hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), are eligible for support when used in road transport and forms of non-road mobile machinery, with waste-based fuels such as HVO derived from used cooking oil benefitting from twice the reward available to low carbon fuels produced from crops.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department is taking steps to (a) help increase the capture and reuse of used cooking oil and (b) support the domestic production of (i) hydrotreated vegetable oil and (ii) other low-carbon liquid fuels.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government published impact assessments alongside consultations on phasing out the installation of fossil fuel heating off the gas grid, on 19 October 2021. The Government will respond to those consultations and set out further details in due course.
The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) scheme continues to drive a market for low carbon liquid fuels. Under the RTFO scheme, sustainable low carbon liquid fuels, including hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), are eligible for support when used in road transport and forms of non-road mobile machinery, with waste-based fuels such as HVO derived from used cooking oil benefitting from twice the reward available to low carbon fuels produced from crops.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on introducing tax relief for hydrogenated vegetable oil for industries that lost access to red diesel in April 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) is eligible for Renewable Transport Fuel Certificates under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), and is eligible to receive twice the reward in certificates under this scheme where it is produced from waste.
The Government uses the RTFO to incentivise the use of low carbon fuels and reduce emissions from fuel supplied for use in transport and non-road mobile machinery. The RTFO has been highly successful in supporting a market for renewable fuel since its introduction in 2008. Renewable fuels supplied under the RTFO currently contribute a third of the savings required for the UK’s transport carbon budget.
As with all taxes, the Government will keep the tax treatment of HVO under review.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to increase the supply of hydrogenated vegetable oil in the UK.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) is the Government’s primary mechanism for supporting the supply of renewable fuels such as hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO). While the RTFO does not incentivise specific fuels, fuels produced from wastes receive additional support under the scheme, this includes HVO produced from waste feedstocks. More information on how the RTFO encourages the supply of low carbon fuels, such as HVO, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/renewable-transport-fuels-obligation
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the annual average greenhouse gas emissions from (a) hydrogenated vegetable oil and (b) diesel.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), like other renewable fuels, is eligible for support under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). The RTFO is a certificate trading scheme that requires large suppliers of transport fuel to ensure a percentage of the total fuel they supply is from renewable sources. The RTFO further incentivises HVO produced from waste feedstocks, such as tallow or used cooking oil, by awarding double the renewable transport fuel certificates (RTFCs) compared to crop derived fuels.
Like all low carbon fuels supported under the RTFO, the Department regularly reports on the carbon savings achieved from HVO. In 2021, HVO provided an average 89% carbon reduction compared to a fossil fuel comparator. Full statistical reports are published quarterly on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/renewable-fuel-statistics.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what work they are undertaking, if any, on converting carbon dioxide and hydrogen into methanol.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is supporting innovation in the synthesis of methanol from low-carbon hydrogen through the UKRI Hydrogen and alternative energy vectors innovation programme.
Where transport fuels are produced by converting carbon dioxide and hydrogen into methanol using renewable inputs, they are eligible for support under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). The RTFO is a certificate trading scheme that has been successful in reducing carbon emissions from road transport since 2008 through incentivising the use and production of low carbon fuels.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will end subsidies on land used for growing crops for bio-fuel.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The United Kingdom's main scheme supporting biofuels is the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), a certificate trading scheme administered by the Department for Transport. The RTFO is not a direct land or biofuel crop subsidy. Where biofuels deliver significant carbon savings and meet stringent sustainability criteria then the supply of biofuels, as distinct from land used for growing crops, will continue to be eligible for reward under the RTFO scheme. The RTFO provides greater incentives for waste-derived biofuels compared with crop-based biofuels and includes a cap on the amount of crop-based biofuels that may count towards supplier targets.
In 2020 just under 36,000 hectares of British crops were used for biofuels supplied to the British road transport market, which equates to 0.6% of the total arable area of the United Kingdom. While growing crops for the biofuel sector offers farmers more routes to market for their harvest and flexibility in their crop rotations, consideration must also be given to land biodiversity or carbon-store value.
HM Government recognises the importance of food security, which is why we published the Food Strategy earlier this year. The Food Strategy puts food security at the heart of HM Government's vision for the food sector. It aims to broadly maintain the current level of food that we produce domestically and to boost production in sectors where there are the biggest opportunities.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to take steps to amend the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation to help increase the competitiveness of hydrogen fuels against diesel for heavy goods vehicles and buses.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Renewable Hydrogen has been eligible for reward under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) since 2019. In July we published guidance which broadened that support by enabling hydrogen producers to claim certificates by using power purchase agreements (PPA) to show the use of qualifying electricity. This will help bring down the cost of hydrogen for all transport users including heavy good vehicles and buses.
In Spring 2023 we will publish a post implementation review of the RTFO 2018 amendments, which was when hydrogen support was introduced. This will investigate the effect of these amendments, informing the UK’s Low Carbon Fuels Strategy, which is in development