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• by Alan Osborn The European Commission is to introduce
Page 11
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legislation to significantly expand the use of biofuels in the transport sector, it was announced this week.
Commission officials told Commercial Motor that legislation would ensure that by 2005 at least 2% of transport fuel throughout the Eli comes from bio-fuel (produced from sugar beet, cereals, maize and rapeseed oil), rising gradually to 20% by 2020.
Governments would be free to implement whatever measures they wished to achieve the overall targets "but in practice we expect that most will choose to encourage bio-fuels through financial incentives," said one official.
British Association for Bio Fuels and Oils (BABFO) chairman Peter Clery welcomes the move as a "step in the right direction" but would prefer to see 10% of transport fuel produced from farmland by 2010.
Karen Dee, director of policy at the Road Haulage Association, does not think that the government would simply order hauliers to use biodiesel to meet EC targets. However, she says: "They could make it very attractive in terms of cost."
RHA members run commercial businesses and would "clearly welcome any true incentives if it's worth their while," she adds.
Dee also says that hauliers would have to be reassured that, besides not costing more, bio-fuels were available through a national network.
Clery insists that plans are in place for a plant which could produce around 250,000 tonnes of biofuel per annum. However, this depends on the government changing its stance on taxation.
"Biofuels emit lower levels of pollutants than fossil fuels and are cleaner than road fuel gases like LPG and CNG, so they should be taxed at the same lower rate," he insists. "We are getting increasingly frustrated with the government for failing to recognise this."