New data from the Department for Transport ( DfT ) has indicated that biofuels make up a smaller proportion of the country’s transport fuel mix than a year ago.
The current figure is five per cent, down from 5.9 per cent in the previous 12 months.
It means that 1.44 billion litres of renewable fuels were supplied to road users in the UK between the start of the year and September 20 th . Their use meant an 85 per cen t reduction in emissions compared to fossil fuels, although this dips to 82 per cent when land use change is factored in.
The most common biofuel used was biodiesel, accounting for 63 per cent of the total, with 25 per cent made of bioethanol and the remainder biomethane .
Of the total biofuel use, 81 per cent came from waste feedstock, including 100 per cent of biodiesel and 24 per cent of bioethanol . The latter was mainly produced from corn (70 per cent), with this accounting for 17 per cent of all renewable fuel use.
However, the UK is not currently producing a lot of its biofuel here and is relying mostly on imports; feedstocks of British origin only made up six per cent of renewable fuel used in the UK.
The most common source was cooking oil from China, which provided 28 per cent of all renewable fuel and 44 per cent of biodiesel. The top supplier of bioethanol was corn from Ukraine, which accounted for 34 per cent of bioethanol and eight per cent of all renewable fuel.
Increased biofuel production in the UK may be vital to help secure supplies and help the UK decarbonise road transport.
Efforts to do this include a new pledge by the UK government to make Britain the first country in Europe to make all heavy goods vehicles zero-emission by 2040.
The DfT has noted progress towards zero-emission vehicles includes projections that 70 per cent of all cars will met the criteria by 2040, twice the figure that was expected five years ago.
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