Letter to stakeholders - Climate Change Bill
Dear stakeholder
Climate Change Bill And RTFO
The Government today published details of how it intends to take forward the Climate Change Bill following the public consultation earlier this year and pre-legislative scrutiny in Parliament. Further details are available via the DEFRA website. The Bill itself is due to be laid in the House "at the earliest possible legislative opportunity".
As the press release states, the Climate Change Bill will contain some provisions relating to the RTFO. These are designed to allow for the more effective implementation of the RTFO over the longer term, and are not critical to its immediate delivery. The RTFO Order already provides the legislative framework necessary for implementation in April 2008.
The Bill's RTFO-related provisions as summarised in today's Command Paper are as follows:
- A new duty on the Renewable Fuels Agency to encourage transport fuel suppliers to improve the performance of the biofuels they supply, in terms of their carbon emissions and sustainability.
- Specific new powers for the Secretary of State to give directions to the Renewable Fuels Agency in certain circumstances. These new powers could be used, for example, in order to help implement a future version of the RTFO under which biofuels are rewarded on the basis of their carbon savings and provided they meet minimum sustainability standards.
- The creation of an information-sharing gateway to allow HM Revenue and Customs to disclose data relating to fuel sales in order to help with the enforcement of the RTFO.
Some additional RTFO-related provisions are also due to be included in the Bill, and further details of these will be made available when the Bill is introduced to Parliament. All of the new provisions will be designed to allow for the more effective and flexible long-term implementation of the RTFO: none of them will have an immediate impact on the RTFO Order which was made last week.
Rupert Furness
RTFO Programme Director
