The UK government will amend and increase the main target in its Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) scheme, with the aim to increase carbon savings from land, air and sea transport.
Following a consultation launched in March last year, the UK will increase the RTFO main target by 5 percentage points by 2032, to 14.6pc, which it said will lead to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions savings of 23.6mn t of CO2 equivalent between 2022 and 2032. The government will increase the target by 1.5 percentage points in 2022 with an additional 3.5 percentage points spread over the 2023-32 period.
The consultation proposed to support uptake of recycled carbon fuels (RCFs), which are produced from fossil wastes that cannot be avoided, reused or recycled and that have the potential to reduce GHG emissions relative to gasoline or diesel. But supporting RCFs in the RTFO requires an amendment to primary legislation, and the government said it will look to make this as soon as possible.
The government also proposed to expand the scope of the RTFO to make the use of renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO) in maritime, rail and non-road vehicles eligible for support. It will expand support for RFNBOs, but said primary legislation changes may be needed to expand support to loading and construction vehicles.
Regarding proposals to promote improvements in sustainability criteria of fuels supported under the RTFO, the government will establish criteria to address the specific impacts of biofuels made from forest biomass and introduce criteria to manage the soil carbon impacts associated with the use of agricultural residues. It will improve the accuracy of reported GHG emissions and secure and increase the minimum GHG savings delivered by eligible fuels.
The government said it intends to make the legislative changes, so the new policies and increased targets apply from the start of the next RTFO obligation period, which began on 1 January 2022.
