Energy: Renewables

Baroness Byford
asked Her Majesty's Government:

How they propose to meet their renewable transport fuel obligation without importing ethanol from Brazil or palm oil from Indonesia. [HL3052]

Lord Bassam of Brighton
It will be up to individual transport fuel suppliers to decide what biofuels to supply to comply with the renewable transport fuel obligation (RTFO). In order to claim credit in respect of any biofuel, however, they will be required to report on the carbon savings associated with, and the wider environmental impact of, that fuel. The Government will continue to work closely with stakeholders on the precise scope and format of these reports. The information in the reports will be publicly available, providing a real incentive to transport fuel suppliers to source only the most sustainable biofuels.

In the longer term, the Government’s intention is that only those biofuels meeting certain minimum environmental standards should qualify for credits under the RTFO. The Government are consulting on how and when it might be feasible to do this without breaching international trade rules: copies of the consultation document are available in the House Libraries or via http://www.dft.gov.uk/roads/rtfo.