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Vivergo Fuels’ MD urges UK government to end uncertainty over RED targets

The managing director from UK-based bioethanol producer Vivergo Fuels is urging the government to end uncertainty over targets to slash carbon emissions from fuel.

According to reports in the Hull Daily Mail, Mark Chesworth says the company is being held back from investing further in the region as a result of delays in meeting Renewable Energy Directive (RED) targets.

RED provides a policy for the EU’s production and promotion of energy from renewable sources, and requires the EU to fulfil at least 20 per cent of its total energy needs with renewables by 2020.

As part of this, all EU countries must ensure at least 10% of their transport fuels come from renewable sources by 2020, but in Britain this figure is still lagging behind, with the bioethanol blend for British petrol at 5%

E10 (petrol blended with up to 10% ethanol) is already being used widely in France, Finland and Germany, and along with higher ethanol blends like E20 (up to 20% ethanol).

Chesworth told the Hull Daily Mail: “This is not a voluntary measure, countries are legally obliged to meet the targets set.

“2020 is not far away, and yet carbon emissions from transport are 22% of total UK emissions, which is a significant amount.

“British motorists already have bioethanol in their tanks without even realising it, but at present the bioethanol blend, called E5, is only 5%.”

He said he saw E10 as the “cheapest, safest and most efficient means of moving towards the 10% target”.

He added: “The reason this matters here and matters now is that opportunities to reduce our impact on the environment are being missed right now.

“Carbon emissions from transport are only 2.5% lower than 1990 and are actually 1.3% higher than 2013, compared with reductions in other sectors of UK industry.

“I am not saying we are the silver bullet to this problem because decarbonising the transport network will require multiple solutions.”





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