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Transport: Renewable Fuel Obligation

My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Jim Fitzpatrick) has made the following Ministerial Statement. I have today published a summary of the responses to the Government's consultation on the design and longer term evolution of the proposed renewable transport fuel obligation (RTFO). Copies have been placed in the Libraries of the House, and are available on the Department for Transport's website at www.dft.gsi.gov.uk. There were over 6,000 responses to the consultation, the great majority highlighting concerns over the sustainability of biofuels. The Government have already indicated how they intend to strengthen the RTFO's environmental safeguards in the light of these concerns, as set out in a Written Ministerial Statement on 21 June (Official Report, cols. WS 45-46). The changes we proposed in that Statement put the UK at the international forefront of work to promote sustainable biofuels. The Government have given careful consideration to the issues raised by stakeholders, and the document I have published today, summarises how we intend to take them into account in finalising the RTFO order which is due to be laid in Parliament in the autumn.