Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will assess the potential merits of introducing more incentives to encourage motorists to use cleaner fuels and public transport.
Mr John Hayes
The Department for Transport assesses a number of different fuels in terms of a range of environmental impacts including air quality and greenhouse gas emissions. A number of initiatives are underway to encourage cleaner, lower carbon fuels.
This Government is investing over £600 million in this Parliament in addition, to a more favorable tax regime towards less polluting vehicles to ensure that almost all cars and vans are zero emission vehicles by 2050.
The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) has supported a market for low carbon fuels and delivered significant greenhouse gas emissions savings. In 2014/15 these savings were equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the road. We have been working with industry and others on proposals to increase the supply of low carbon fuels in line with our UK carbon budget targets. We plan to consult on proposed changes to the RTFO scheme later this year.
The Government will continue to promote public transport choices, supporting the market for innovative forms of transport and encourage a move to cleaner and lower carbon vehicles.
