Government should be doing more to incentivise the use of biomethane as a transport fuel, as the electrification of HGVs could be "decades" away, according to a report from the Transport Committee.
The document, 2020 Renewable Heat and Transport Targets, said that current government policies make it more appealing for producers of biomethane to inject it into the grid instead of upgrading it to a transport fuel.
Fuel supplier Gasrec said the government’s policies were “inadequate” in regards to promoting the use of biomethane as a transport fuel, even though “there is no other alternative fuel than methane/biomethane to power HGVs”.
Transport minister Andrew Jones added that liquid fuels could be necessary in HGVs for “decades to come”.
The report concluded that: “Government must ensure HGV operators are sufficiently supplied and incentivised to move to biomethane over the medium-to-long term.”
The FTA, which gave evidence to the committee for the report, said the document was evidence that the government should review its policy on transport fuels.
Christopher Snelling, FTA head of national and regional policy, said: “Whilst the UK must meet renewable energy targets, the freight sector is also under enormous pressure to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality, but we need the policies in place to make alternatives feasible.”
