Official Statistics

Biofuel statistics: Year 5 (2012 to 2013), report 6

Final report for Year 5, 15 April 2012 to 14 April 2013.

Documents

Renewable transport fuel obligation statistics: year 5, report 6

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Renewable transport fuel obligation statistics: year 5, report 6 data tables

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Details

This publication presents statistics on the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) for the obligation year 15 April 2012 to 14 April 2013 (Year 5) based on data currently available. This is the final report for year 5 and therefore contains a complete dataset.

It includes information on:

  • the amount of UK road transport fuel from renewable and fossil fuel;
  • the number of Renewable Transport Fuel Certificates (RTFCs) which have been issued to fuel meeting the sustainability requirements;
  • the balance of RTFCs by obligation period;
  • trades of RTFCs between suppliers and/or traders;
  • carbon and sustainability (C&S) characteristics of the renewable fuel to which RTFCs have been issued;
  • voluntary scheme data of renewable transport fuel;
  • supplier specific C&S data;
  • supplier performance against the obligation; and
  • fuel supply by volume and energy.

Main results

The headline figures are:

  • 1,340 million litres of renewable fuel have been supplied, which is 3.00% of total road transport fuel. 1,334 million litres (99.6%) of this renewable fuel has so far been demonstrated to meet the sustainability requirements
  • the obligation on fuel supplied for 2012/13 was 2,044 million litres in total, all suppliers met their obligations in full
  • 1,863 million RTFCs have been issued to fuel meeting the sustainability requirements, of which 1,058 million were issued to double counting feedstocks
  • of the 1,334 million litres meeting the sustainability requirements, bioethanol comprised 59% of supply, biodiesel (FAME) 37% and biomethanol and methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) 5%. There were also small volumes of biogas, and pure vegetable oil

Carbon and sustainability (C&S) characteristics of the biofuels to which RTFCs have been issued are:

  • the most widely reported source for biodiesel (by feedstock and country of origin) was used cooking oil from the UK (140 million litres, 10% of total fuel, 29% of biodiesel).
  • the most widely reported source for bioethanol (by feedstock and country of origin) was corn from the United States of America (254 million litres, 19% of total fuel, 32% of bioethanol).
  • 40% of fuel was made from a waste/non-agricultural residue (double counting) feedstock.
  • 21% of the fuel was sourced from UK feedstocks.
  • an aggregate greenhouse gas saving of 66% compared to fossil fuels was achieved. This figure excludes emissions from indirect land-use change.
  • 81% of the fuel was sourced from a voluntary scheme.
  • the most commonly used voluntary scheme was ISCC (66% of fuel) followed by Abengoa (9%).

Renewable fuel statistics

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Updates to this page

Published 6 February 2014

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