biofuelwatch - DfT has today published "Low carbon transport: a greener future"

Published today by UK Government Transport ministry

The DfT has today published “Low carbon transport: a greener future”

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/carbonreduction/low-carbon.pdf

Improving public transport and other sustainable modes is one of three key themes.

The strategy is based on the following themes:

zzSupporting a shift to new technologies and fuels

zzPromoting lower carbon transport choices

zzUsing market-based measures to encourage a shift to lower carbon transport

Detail from report:

Sustainable biofuels

Promoting the use of sustainable biofuels is an important part of our strategy in the development of a low carbon transport system.

We are pursuing this through regulation – with the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation in the UK and through the Renewable Energy and Fuel Quality Directives in the EU. Through these instruments, we aim to guarantee likely demand and provide certainty to industry, as well as preventing unsustainable biofuels from being produced and consumed, through the application of minimum sustainability standards. We will set out our strategy for meeting our biofuels targets in a National Action Plan by June 2010.

We are also supporting research into new biofuels in the UK. This will feed into efforts by the European Commission to understand – and, if appropriate, create a methodology to account for – indirect land-use change. We believe that this is important for securing long-term investor certainty in the biofuels industry.

Sustainable biofuels

3.88 We are committed to ensuring that transport fuels are cleaner, greener and less carbon intensive. Biofuels are blended into the conventional transport fuels that we use today and therefore are a readily available renewable technology. They have the potential to emit 338-371 million tonnes of global CO₂ less each year than the fossil fuels they replace.³⁷ However, the 2008 Gallagher Review found that unless produced in the right manner, with appropriate crops, biofuels risk displacing existing agricultural production, which in turn may drive deforestation and the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. This could cause both an increase in net greenhouse gas emissions (above those associated with conventional fossil fuels) as well as contributing to higher food prices and food shortages.

37 http://www.dft.gov.uk/rfa/_db/_documents/Report_of_the_Gallagher_review.pdf

57 Low Carbon Transport: A Greener Future

3.89 Promoting the use of sustainable biofuels is therefore an important part of our strategy to deliver a low carbon transport system. A sustainable biofuel is one that delivers high greenhouse gas savings and low social and environmental impacts. We are taking action in two main areas to support this:

zzUsing regulation to promote sustainable biofuels; and

zzSupporting innovative research into new biofuels.

Using regulation to promote sustainable biofuels

3.90 Long-term targets, set in law, are an important mechanism for ensuring development of the best biofuels. They guarantee likely demand and provide certainty to industry which, in turn, encourages innovative investment in new biofuels.

3.91 Regulations can also prevent unsustainable biofuels from being produced and consumed through minimum sustainability standards. In light of this, we have signed up to two ambitious targets under the European Renewable Energy and Fuel Quality Directives. Both contain binding mandatory sustainability standards for biofuels. Accordingly we want to deploy the most sustainable and cost-effective biofuels available by 2020 to:

zzReduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport fuels by 6 per cent; and

zzEnsure that 10 per cent of transport’s energy comes from renewable sources³⁸.

3.92 We will be putting new laws in place to meet these targets by December 2010. The existing Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation³⁹, will need to be amended or superseded to comply with European law.

3.93 The UK Renewable Energy Strategy (published in parallel with this strategy) sets out a range of scenarios for how much biofuel we will be using between now and 2020.⁴⁰ We will firm up these proposals in a National Action Plan, which we will be publishing in June 2010.

38 By the end of 2014 the Commission will undertake a review of, amongst others, the cost-efficiency of the measures to be implemented to achieve the target and the feasibility of meeting the target sustainably. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:140:0016:0062:EN:PDF

39 The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations Order 2007 obligates fossil fuel suppliers to show that a certain percentage of their fuel comes from renewable sources. The obligation level will rise annually in stages until we reach a level of 5 per cent renewable fuel in 2013/14.

40 http://decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/uk_supply/energy_mix/renewable/res/res.aspx

58 Supporting a shift to new technologies and cleaner fuels

Supporting innovative research into new biofuels

3.94 Setting minimum greenhouse gas savings will help to improve biofuel sustainability. Yet there is more that we want to do to encourage the supply of the right kind of biofuels in the UK which generate genuine net greenhouse gas savings. That is why we are developing a comprehensive cross-government research and development strategy on sustainable biofuels. The strategy will be informed by a research scoping study that is due for publication in summer 2009.

3.95 Our research strategy will complement existing innovations. For example, in January 2009, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council’s Sustainable Bioenergy Centre was launched to target research into the development of advanced bioenergy, representing a £20 million Government investment. The Department is also providing up to £6 million to the Carbon Trust’s Advanced Bioenergy Directed Research Accelerator, which is investigating the potential of algae for biofuels.

3.96 The Government intends to provide financial support for the creation by industry of a biofuels demonstration plant in England, which would use organic waste material to produce bioethanol and renewable power. Further details are expected to be announced later this year.

3.97 Our research will also feed into current efforts by the European Commission to understand and, if appropriate, create a methodology to account for indirect land-use change. We believe that this is important for securing long-term investor certainty and public confidence in the biofuels industry.

3.98 There may also be significant potential for biofuels to be used in aviation. There has been a considerable amount of research in this area. For example, the use of drop-in biofuels, which provide an equivalent replacement for kerosene, have already been tested on commercial airliners, and the results are encouraging, suggesting that they may not require modifications to use. Manufacturers such as Boeing have suggested that biofuel-powered aircraft could be certified for commercial use within the next three to five years, with blends of up to 30 per cent being commercially feasible. However, as there is only a limited availability of biofuels we will need to have a coherent strategy for utilising their sustainable deployment both in the air and on land.

3.99 We will continue to work with other governments to encourage and promote the use of sustainable biofuels within the aviation sector, and to ensure that issues relating to their supply can be overcome.

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