The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations (Amendment) Order 2024

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/3072) (“the RTFO Order”).

Article 4 of this instrument amends article 2 of the RTFO Order to extend the range of relevant feedstocks to include wastes of fossil origin.

Article 5 of this instrument amends article 3 of the RTFO Order to insert paragraph (2E) to set a condition that hydrogen produced using wastes of fossil origin must capture and store carbon emissions for it to be a specified type of renewable transport fuel. The amount of carbon captured and stored will be determined by the Administrator. Paragraph (8A) defines recycled carbon fuel. A new paragraph (15) designates as a recycled carbon fuel a liquid or gaseous fuel produced wholly from a waste of fossil origin designated as a relevant feedstock by the Administrator. By designating a recycled carbon fuel, the Secretary of State is enabling that fuel to be treated as renewable transport fuel under the RTFO Order.

Article 6 of this instrument amends article 15 of the RTFO Order to add an obligation on the Administrator to publish guidance on how the sustainable waste management criteria is to be met; how the minimum emission saving from the use of an amount of recycled carbon fuel is to be determined; how the default and actual values are to be determined for recycled carbon fuel and how the Administrator is to be satisfied that carbon emitted during the production of hydrogen using wastes of fossil origin has been captured and stored appropriately.

Article 7 of this instrument adds a new article 15A which imposes a duty on the Administrator to determine the wastes of fossil origin that may be used in the production of a recycled carbon fuel and requires the Administrator to consider certain specified matters when making that determination. Where the Administrator determines that a waste of fossil origin may be used in the production of a recycled carbon fuel, the Administrator must designate that waste as a relevant feedstock under the RTFO Order.

Article 8 of this instrument amends article 17A of the RTFO Order to ensure that wastes of fossil origin are not awarded an additional Renewable Transport Fuel Certificate.

Article 9 of this instrument amends Schedule 1 of the RTFO Order to insert wastes of biological origin to the feedstock column of row 3 and adds wastes of fossil origin to a new row 7, which must meet the corresponding sustainability criteria. The minimum GHG emission saving for use of recycled carbon fuel is determined by the Administrator in guidance.

An impact assessment (in the form of a cost-benefit analysis) of the effect that this Order will have on the costs of business, the voluntary and public sectors is available from the Low Carbon Fuels Division, Department for Transport, Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 4DR. The cost benefit analysis is annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum, which is available alongside this Order at http://www.legislation.gov.uk.

An Explanatory Memorandum is available alongside this instrument on the UK legislation website at www.legislation.gov.uk