Zemo Partnership shows how GHG-based fuel duty structure to boost low carbon renewable fuel demand

In the UK, new analysis by Zemo Partnership shows how a greenhouse gas-based fuel duty structure could encourage uptake of low carbon renewable fuels in hard-to-electrify transport applications and accelerate the transition to net zero.

The new study (‘Decarbonising Heavy Duty Vehicles and Machinery’) by Zemo Partnership, the public-private membership group driving transport decarbonisation, explores a pricing mechanism for a fuel duty discount and the potential GHG emission benefits of the use of high blend renewable fuels (HBRF) in heavy vehicles.

Heavy duty vehicles (HDV) and heavy non-road vehicles are applications for which the urgency to decarbonise is currently outpacing the availability, affordability and uptake of electric (or hydrogen) technologies. A 2021 report by Zemo, highlighted the opportunities to quickly decarbonise these vehicles using high blend renewable fuels such as biodiesel and hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), cutting GHG emissions by 85%-90% compared with standard fossil diesel when produced from biogenic waste feedstocks.

The study shows how a fuel duty discount could be set for a 100% renewable diesel fuel and scaled according to the bio-content in HBRFs . Fuels would only qualify for the incentive if approved under the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation and produced from waste-based biomass feedstocks.

For this report, supported by the Renewable Transport Fuel Association (RTFA) and UKPIA, Zemo carried out a comprehensive analysis of the whole-life costs for HDV and heavy non-road vehicle fleets running on renewable fuel compared with conventional (fossil-derived) diesel.