Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a Contract for Difference scheme for the domestic sustainable aviation fuel industry.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) programme is one of the most comprehensive in the world. The Government is securing demand for SAF through mandating its use from 2025 and is supporting supply through its £165 million Advanced Fuels Fund competition to help scale up SAF production in the UK. SAF technologies are relatively new and many have not been demonstrated at full scale. Technology, construction and feedstock barriers to investment remain as well as revenue certainty.
The Government has committed to work together with industry to consider the best way to help the aviation industry to decarbonise, including options for additional revenue certainty for a UK SAF industry to be provided via an industry funded intervention. This work is under way and the Department is awaiting the findings from several key pieces of work that have been undertaken by industry experts, through the Jet Zero Council’s Sub Delivery Group on SAF, to inform next steps.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that (a) communities and businesses in the South of England and (b) national industries are able participate in (i) carbon capture storage and (ii) the production of hydrogen and sustainable aviation and marine fuels.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Carbon capture and storage (CCUS) and low carbon hydrogen, which can be used to create sustainable aviation and marine fuels, offer economic opportunities across the country. In 2030, CCUS and hydrogen could support up to 50,000 and 12,000 jobs, respectively. The Government announced an unprecedented £20bn investment in the early development of CCUS and is supporting hydrogen projects across the UK through the £240m Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, including three in the south of England, and the Hydrogen Production Business Model. Two projects in the south of England have progressed to the next stage of the first electrolytic hydrogen allocation round.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of tendering sustainable aviation fuel contracts to help support UK production of sustainable aviation fuel.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is working with the Department for Transport (DfT) to understand opportunities for Defence to support the UK Jet Zero Strategy. As a baseline, MOD procurement of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) will be led by the DfT SAF Mandate which intends to introduce a minimum percentage of sustainably derived fuel into aviation fuel sales from 2025, increasing to 10% by 2030, and continuing to increase beyond that point. The MOD is already seeking to procure SAF earlier than 2025, ahead of the mandate, in order to play its part in the migration towards a zero-carbon economy, including the desire to help create a domestic demand.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to encourage targeted technology investment in renewable fuels such as the use of waste cooking oils in aviation fuel.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation is currently our main support mechanism to encourage the supply of renewable fuels, including aviation fuels and those produced from waste feedstocks like used cooking oil (UCO).
The Government plans to introduce the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) mandate in 2025, which will aim to drive demand for SAF in the UK and deliver at least 10% SAF in the jet fuel mix by 2030. The mandate will include a cap on hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) SAF, which includes UCO. The Department is currently consulting on what level the cap should be set at.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on the development of sustainable aviation fuels.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is focused on stimulating the demand and use of sustainable aviation fuel in the UK. To create demand for SAF, the Government will introduce a SAF mandate in 2025, which aims to deliver at least 10% of jet fuel from sustainable sources by 2030. The second consultation on the design of the scheme is currently open for consultation.
The Government is seeking to kickstart a domestic SAF industry through the £165 million Advanced Fuels Fund to support the development of commercial scale plants. The Government has already awarded funding to five projects and is currently considering applications to the second funding round.
In April 2023, the Government responded to Philip New’s report on developing a UK SAF industry. Officials are now working with industry to develop options for an industry-funded revenue certainty mechanism.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to help ensure the accuracy of the information published online setting out the carbon footprint of different modes of transport; and whether his Department has made an estimate of the reduction of emissions for the aviation sector in the UK delivered through use of sustainable aviation fuel by (a) 2030, (b) 2040 and (c) 2050.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department for Transport publishes journey emissions comparisons as part of its annual Transport and the Environment publication. These are Official Statistics, held to the standards laid out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
Detailed information for users regarding the strengths and weaknesses of these statistics, as well as information on the underlying methodology from the Department for Transport, and the Green House Gas conversion factors published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero used to produce these statistics, are available at the links given below:
Department for Transport, Journey emissions comparisons: Methodology and guidance:
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2022, methodology:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2022
The Jet Zero Strategy, published in July 2022, set out the Government’s approach to achieving net zero for the UK aviation sector by 2050. Four analytical scenarios were produced as part of the strategy, setting out a range of emissions pathways for the sector, under various assumptions on the likely uptake of different decarbonisation technologies, including SAF.
Further detail on the Jet Zero Strategy and the underpinning analysis can be found here: Jet Zero strategy: delivering net zero aviation by 2050 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
More recently, the Government has published a second consultation on a SAF mandate, to be introduced from 2025.
Further detail on the SAF mandate can be found here: Pathway to net zero aviation: developing the UK sustainable aviation fuel mandate - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will introduce an industry-funded price support mechanism to help secure private investment in UK sustainable aviation fuel plants; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is driving the demand for sustainable aviation fuel in the UK by mandating its use from 2025, with at least 10 per cent of jet fuel to be from sustainable sources by 2030 and is seeking to develop a SAF industry in the UK. The Government is supporting production plants with funding but recognises that there are barriers to investment.
In April, the Government published an independent evaluation by Phillip New on developing a UK sustainable aviation fuel industry. In response to the report’s recommendations, the Government has committed to work in partnership with industry on options to increase future revenue certainty of UK SAF plants and on actions for stabilising the UK feedstock market. If required, following that work, the Department for Transport will consult on policy options in the summer.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to help develop a UK Sustainable Aviation Fuel industry; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is driving the demand for sustainable aviation fuel in the UK by mandating its use from 2025, with at least 10 per cent of jet fuel to be from sustainable sources by 2030 and is seeking to develop a SAF industry in the UK. The Government is supporting production plants with funding but recognises that there are barriers to investment.
In April, the Government published an independent evaluation by Phillip New on developing a UK sustainable aviation fuel industry. In response to the report’s recommendations, the Government has committed to work in partnership with industry on options to increase future revenue certainty of UK SAF plants and on actions for stabilising the UK feedstock market. If required, following that work, the Department for Transport will consult on policy options in the summer.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on the research and development of (a) hydrogen fuel and (b) other alternative fuels to petrol and diesel.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Research and development funding for hydrogen focusses on demonstrating proven applications at scale and driving innovation. The Department for Transport supports the Tees Valley Hydrogen Transport Hub, which is co-locating hydrogen supply and demand across proven road, maritime and aviation applications. The Department’s £200m zero emission HGV demonstrator programme will deploy hundreds of vehicles onto UK roads.
In addition, the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE), Advanced Fuels Fund (including Sustainable Aviation Fuels), Zero Emission Flight Infrastructure project and First of a Kind funding in rail continue to support the development of innovative transport solutions here in the UK.
The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation now includes a higher value “development fuel” target and synthetic “drop-in” alternatives to fossil petrol and diesel fuels, such as e-fuels “are eligible for this support when supplied in the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to require airports to use fuel blended with sustainable aviation fuel as legislated for in the EU; and what sustainable fuel targets they are considering.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has set out its vision to establish the UK as a global leader in the development, production and use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel. This is why it has committed to introducing a Sustainable Aviation Fuel mandate equivalent to at least 10% (around 1.5 billion litres) of jet fuel to be made from sustainable sources by 2030. The Government recently published its second consultation on this mandate, in which it proposes to set targets that increase from 2025 to 2040, providing 15 years of certainty for the industry. In the consultation, the Government is seeking views on a range of trajectories that reach between 17% and 32% by 2040.