Written evidence submitted by Jeremy Nightingale (EVP0004)

I fully support and embrace the move to de-carbonise the transport system, so much so that I have been using a carbon negative vehicle for the past 6 years. Although I have received duty relief on the first 2500ltrs of fuel, there is no other recognition for this with in the current, and as far as I can tell, the future plans under road pricing etc.

I run a 1989 Landrover 110 with a 2498cc turbo diesel engine using SVO as fuel.

SVO (Straight Vegetable Oil) as I am sure you know is not biodiesel, and as an unadulterated plant product, removes the carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere to produce the plant oil. It also removes all the CO2 required for the production of the rest of the plant.

August 2019 Government greenhouse gas conversion factors for company reporting Methodology paper for emission factors. Final report.

Biofuels

9.11. Biofuels are defined as “net carbon zero” or “carbon neutral” as any CO2 expelled during the burning of the fuel is cancelled out by the CO2 absorbed by the feedstock used to produce the fuel during growth. Therefore, all direct emissions from biofuels provided in the GHG Conversion Factors dataset are only made up of CH4and N2O emissions.

These cover the period from April 2017 - April 2018 and were the most recent figures available at the time of production of the 2019 GHG Conversion Factors. The report is available from the GOV. website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/biofuels-statistics

This extract from one of your own documents on Biofuels and focusses on Biodiesel not SVO, considering the former as Carbon Zero; thus the latter, not requiring the chemicals and manufacturing energy input of Biodiesel production, must by definition be carbon negative. This concept is reinforced by the findings in your document: -

Dept. Of Transport Statistical Release 5th November 2020

Renewable Fuel Statistics 2019 Final Report

If my vehicle is, by your definition of its fuel, at least carbon zero, and by my reading of the carbon offset methodology you have used to generate that concept for Biodiesels, carbon negative, then I have some questions for you to consider.

• Why do I not have a low VED rating for my vehicle?
• Why am I charged as a diesel vehicle in London and other low emissions zones?
• Where is the recognition for the financial, knowledge and time input to the self-conversion of the vehicle that is active removing CO2 from the atmosphere for the last 6 years?
• What happens when you go from FED to road pricing for people in low wage, rural areas, with low population densities, such as the South West, who cannot afford electric vehicles? (as an example, it is a 14-mile round trip to the nearest shops from my village, thus @ 79p a mile, for example, would put £11.06 on the price of a shop at the supermarket, money many do not have spare)

Please do not forget those of us who have been attempting to do something for the environment for years, as individuals, when you are drafting future legislation for the masses.

February 2021