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APPG For British Bioethanol Publishes FINAL Report On E10 Inquiry


The APPG for British Bioethanol has launched its final report on the introduction of E10 today. Stemming from the launch of an Inquiry in March into the lack of progress made by the DfT to publish its Consultation into E10, which closed in September 2018.

The APPG made an open for submissions to be submitted to the Inquiry by stakeholders of the British Bioethanol industry, and throughout the length of the Inquiry gathered evidence from 12 stakeholders from the UK, France and Belgium, also holding two oral evidence sessions in Parliament in May.

Click Image For Full Report.

The report outlines the APPG’s key findings, some of which include:

  • The UK economy will likely soon lose a vital and valuable £1 billion bioethanol industry. Without the swift introduction of E10 - by 2020 at the latest - the British Bioethanol Industry will continue to decline and likely disappear forever resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs.

  • While the UK purports to be a global leader in tackling the Climate Crisis – with the Prime Minister recently announcing a new target for the UK to be Carbon Neutral by 2050 – the reality is that the UK falls far behind many other countries.

  • Introducing E10 would assist in the UK achieving its GHG reduction targets – saving the equivalent emissions of taking 700,000 cars off the road – while also being delivered at a low carbon cost relative to other options.

  • If the British Bioethanol Industry is lost, the UK will likely become dependent on increasingly scarce and less sustainable biofuel from abroad including Used Cooking Oil (UCO) from China.

  • If the British Bioethanol Industry is lost, British farmers will need to purchase an increasing volume of animal feed from less sustainable sources, in particular soya based feed from regions in South America, further exacerbating the issue of deforestation. British farmers will also lose an important domestic market for surplus feed wheat.

The final report also outlines the APPG’s final recommendations to the Government:

  • That the Department for Transport should publish its Consultation on E10 without delay.

  • That the Secretary of State for Transport should host an emergency summit on the future of the British Bioethanol Industry before or during the summer recess, bringing together stakeholders to discuss the best course of action to mandate the introduction of E10.

Writing about the Inquiry, Nic Dakin, the Chair of the APPG, said that “through this Inquiry, we have sought to surface and explore the facts - taking written and oral evidence from the widest possible range of stakeholders from fuel producers and farmers – in order to identify concerns which stand in the way of introducing E10 in the UK. While the Department for Transport was invited to contribute to the work of this Inquiry via written or oral evidence, they declined to do so, which is regrettable. While Brexit undoubtedly continues to preoccupy much of the Department’s time, as it does with many other Departments, this should not be at the expense of progressing vitally important policy. Indeed, policy that the Department itself has committed to prioritise.

Nonetheless, I hope the Department now takes heed of the findings and recommendations in this Final Report, and the collective efforts of this Group and those who has contributed to our work, will help progress discussions and dislodge a positive decision on this issue by the Department in the very near future, facilitating the managed introduction of this cleaner, greener fuel by 2020 at the latest. A development which members of this APPG as well as its Chair believe is a “no brainer”.


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