New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
On the move: decarbonising the UK’s transport
5/4/2023
6 min read
Feature
How exactly is the move to alternative, low-carbon fuels for UK road and rail users going to play out in the next few years? Here, Gloria Esposito, Head of Sustainability at Zemo Partnership, a public-private partnership that aims to accelerate transport to zero emissions, discusses the options for cars and vans, heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), non-road vehicles and the railway.
Today, low-carbon fuels contribute about a third of all carbon savings from domestic transport. As electrification ramps up in specific transport sectors, the long-term role of fuels will clearly change and the UK government is currently considering what a coherent future strategy should look like.
The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) is, at present, the key measure driving the supply of low-carbon fuels. The RTFO has set a target for these fuels to supply 14.6% of all road transport demand by 2032.
Today, low-carbon fuels are mainly blended into retail petrol and diesel, notably bioethanol (E10) and biodiesel (B7). They are also supplied as pure or blended products to heavy-duty vehicle fleets, and operators of non-road mobile machinery (examples are biodiesel B20, hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) and biomethane).