Biofuel fans slam tax bias to LPG

THE UK will fail to meet EU targets on biofuel use because of government commitment to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), says a prominent biofuel campaigner.

The government is committed to LPG as a road fuel over other green options.

But Peter Clery, chairman of the British Association of Biofuels and Oils, says its apparent reluctance to embrace biodiesel and bioethanol will leave the UK adrift of new EU targets.

Thanks to tax breaks, LPG sells at half the price of petrol, and grants to help rural garages convert cars to run on it have recently been increased.

"There is no doubt that LPG is a more environmentally friendly fuel than its competitors," says energy minister Brian Wilson.

"The benefits of lower carbon dioxide emissions and the reduced oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter from LPG are two of its overriding benefits."

While biodiesel prices will rise with. other fuels in October, the Chancellor has frozen the LPG price.

But Mr Clery claims LPG is an inferior fuel no one wants.

"The government took the view six to seven years ago that LPG was the "fuel of the future. Civil servants have set this into policy and cannot now admit they were wrong.

"After five years of heavy promotion and a massive tax break, only 0.2% of vehicles can be fuelled with LPG."

New legislation, recently approved by the European Parliament, requires EU members to set targets for biofuels' market share, he notes.

These should be set at 2% by December 2005 and 5.75% by December 2010, and member states must announce initial targets by July 2004.

"There is not a cat's chance in Hades of the UK meeting the 2% target," says Mr Clery.

The Chancellor should increase the biofuel rebate to 30p/litre or make 2% inclusion of biofuels in all road fuels mandatory, he says.

The 2% figure, about 750,000t a year, would need about 0.5m hectares of fuel crops, BABFO estimates.