UK Climate Change Programme 2006 - JNCC - Defra

64
Transport
Policies and measures
12. The Government is committed to promoting
sustainable transport and cutting transport
emissions in the medium to longer term. The task
of tackling emissions growth in this sector from
strong sustained economic growth is challenging
and a range of approaches will be required,
including regulation, taxation, public spending
and voluntary measures.
• promoting the inclusion of aviation in
emissions trading schemes and developing the
evidence base around the possibility of
including surface transport in emissions
trading schemes in the future.
Reducing the fossil carbon content
of road transport fuels
15. The 2003 Energy White Paper made clear that for
transport to play its part in putting the UK on the
path to a 60 per cent reduction in CO 2
emissions
by 2050, with real progress by 2020, there has to
be a move towards low carbon and renewably
produced fuels.
13. Carbon dioxide emissions from transport depend
on three key variables:
I) the fossil carbon content of fuel consumed;
II) the fuel efficiency of vehicles; and
III) the distance travelled and the means of
transport chosen.
14. It is essential that we address all three of these in
the most cost-effective and practical way
possible. To achieve this we need to take action
on a range of levels and that is exactly what we
are doing by developing policies for:
• reducing the fossil carbon content of road
transport fuels;
• improving the fuel efficiency of vehicles;
• encouraging a move towards more
environmentally friendly means of transport;
and
16. The Government published the Alternative Fuels
Framework as part of Pre-Budget Report 2003.
This set out the Government’s commitment to
promoting the development of sustainable
alternatives to fossil fuel, and affirmed the need
for fiscal incentives to reflect environmental
benefits. The framework committed the
Government to a three-year rolling guarantee for
biofuels and road fuel gas duty rates, offering
certainty to support investment. Budget 2006
announced that the 20 pence per litre duty
incentive for bioethanol and biodiesel will be
maintained to 2008-09.
17. In November 2005 the Government announced it
would introduce a Renewable Transport Fuel
Obligation (RTFO). The RTFO requires transport
fuel suppliers to ensure a set percentage of their
sales are from a renewable source. It will be
introduced in 2008-09, with the obligation level set
at 5% in 2010-11. We estimate that this will lead
to a 1.6MtC reduction in emissions. This figure
follows the internationally agreed methodology for
allocating emissions to individual states, which
prevents global double counting of emissions.
As such it does not take into account the carbon
emitted during the production of biofuels which
are produced abroad and used in the UK. When
this is taken into consideration the net global
reduction in carbon dioxide emissions is around
1MtC, equivalent to taking one million cars off the
road, without stopping people from travelling.