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WQ.183/2022
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR THE ENVIROMENT BY DEPUTY R.J. WARD OF ST. HELIER CENTRAL
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 26th SEPTEMBER 2022 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 3rd OCTOBER 2022
Question
Will the Minister advise what work, if any, has been undertaken to prepare for future changes in the price of RD100 fuel before considering the provision of a Government subsidy; and does the Minister consider the use of this fuel or other biofuels is a realistic alternative to fossil fuels?
Answer
Officers have been working closely with colleagues in Treasury and Customs and Excise to model different scenarios of uptake and costs based on a number of varying parameters. It should be noted that the proposed subsidy in the Carbon Neutral Roadmap is a fixed pence per litre and so the total cost to the Climate Emergency Fund will not be impacted by changes to the price of RD100.
However, the level of uptake of subsidised RD100 will be impacted by its price relative to conventional diesel. Since the market for both fuels remains so volatile it is incredibly difficult to anticipate the effect of any such subsidy. To that end I have taken the decision to pause implementation of policy TR3 of the Carbon Neutral Roadmap until there is greater certainty in the market and we can be sure that the subsidy will lead to a significant uptake of RD100.
I strongly believe that renewable fuels have an important role to play in the transition away from fossil fuels, however we need to carefully judge our intervention in the market to ensure that the subsidy achieves the desired effect.