Early day motion tabled by primary sponsor Norman Baker (Liberal Democrat), on Wednesday, 14 January 2009, in the House of Commons. It is signed by 24 members in total.

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ERROR IN RENEWABLE TRANSPORT FUEL OBLIGATION LEGISLATION

That this House welcomes the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) which came into force on 15 April 2008, obliging oil companies to replace a certain percentage of their fossil fuels with biofuels with current targets at 2008-09 2.5 per cent., 2009-10 3.75 per cent. and 5 per cent. by 2010-11; notes that in October 2008, the Government discovered a serious mistake in the legal definition for relevant fossil fuel, such that if petrol or diesel is blended with a small proportion of biofuel the entire fuel no longer needs to comply with the RTFO target and that therefore oil companies will be able to meet this year's obligation without supplying another litre of biofuel; further notes that this will thereby potentially reduce the amount of greenhouse gases saved this year to half what it would have been; recognises that due to the way the RTFO system operates further effects which reduce greenhouse gas savings will be seen in 2009-10; calls on the Government to introduce proposals to correct the drafting error so that the originally-intended targets apply to this financial year; further calls on the Government to remedy the impact in future years by not reducing the RTFO targets for 2009-10 (to 3 per cent.) and 2010-11 (to 3.5 per cent.); and request that, if this is not done the Government consider offering to buy the certificates generated in excess of a company's obligation, if any, under the original interpretation of the RTFO Order.

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Secondary information

Type

Early day motion

Reference

459 

Session

2008-09

Other sponsors

Peter Bottomley

Jeremy Corbyn

Ed Davey

David Drew

Adrian Sanders

Subjects

Renewable energy

Link

View this Early day motion on www.parliament.uk