Tuesday 24 July 2018

Motorists ‘losing out due to government hesitancy on green fuels’

Motorists are losing out due to the government’s hesitancy to introduce greener petrol.

That's according to a new report from the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Bioethanol, which suggests the government is unnecessarily reluctant to introduce E10, petrol blended with 10% bioethanol, on UK forecourts.

It says despite estimations the new fuel would offer emissions savings equivalent to removing 700,000 cars from the road, the government is concerned about the compatibility of E10 with the existing vehicle fleet and how the shift could disproportionately affect the poor.

However, the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Bioethanol says the government’s belief that older vehicles unlikely to work well with E10 are owned by poorer people is mistaken - it claims older vehicles 'unwarrantied' for E10 are more likely to be owned by people in more affluent households as second cars.

It also shows there are more new vehicles in poorer areas, with nearly half of all petrol vehicles that reside within the five most deprived boroughs being less than seven years old.

MP Nic Dakin, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Bioethanol, said: "The government has been unnecessarily hesitant to take the action needed to introduce E10, despite being faced with its own legally binding 2020 targets with regards to tackling climate change and their current legal challenge to air quality and pollution in inner cities."

ELN has contacted the DfT for a response.