Government Green Policy

In recent weeks the Government has extended the timeline for some of their green plans. We want to assure our customers and the public that although the Government have extended their planned deadline, Ford Fuels is still committed to offering greener alternatives to their customers current fuel supplies wherever possible. This timeline extension does however give the public more choice in how and when they make their move to greener fuel, and it will be a much more informed decision.

We have been working within the industry to bring Renewable Fuel (HVO) to the market, both for commercial and domestic use. We are proud to say that we can now offer this alternative fuel to both markets and have begun the process of fuelling our own tankers with that same renewable fuel.

This new fuel can reduce your carbon emissions by up to 90%, which goes a long way to making you carbon neutral. We understand that in some cases (especially for domestic use) HVO may not be a viable alternative while prices are currently significantly higher than fossil fuel. We hope that government legislation will eventually allow these prices to fall as their supply becomes more abundant.

With the cost in mind, we now also offer a carbon offsetting upgrade to standard fuel. This is cheaper than changing to HVO but has the benefits of contributing to a greener future. By carbon offsetting you are funding projects that have been validated at the highest level which reduce carbon emissions around the world. These projects are specifically chosen for their authenticity and their sustainability.

Contact us for more information.

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For a break down of the governments announcements please see below:

The Prime Ministers speech was quite emotive – “We’ve stumbled into a consensus about the future of our country that no one seems to be happy with.” He went further by saying that the climate policies he inherited will deliver unacceptable costs to families, that the government must be ambitious in terms of emissions but be honest and that policy cannot just wish it to happen.

He gave several examples of the types of policy in his opinion that are causing issues including banning boilers in homes that can never conceivably install a heat pump and a ban on off grid oil boilers in just 3 years’ time. Additionally, he commented that the cost for off grid in 3 short years was exorbitantly expensive and that he was concerned about imposing these costs and causing so much disruption without a proper debate, while ignoring the progress the country has made on carbon reduction compared to other countries.

At the heart of his announcement was the view that it cannot be right to ask the British people to sacrifice even more and that the real risk is losing the consent of people because they view the policies us unfair which ultimately leads to not achieving the emission goals as set out.

His conclusion is we need a new approach by changing the debate between two extremes of banning net zero goals and moving even faster towards them regardless of the cost and disruption. In his opinion both extremes are wrong and that the government and country need to be realistic.

His test will be – do we have the fairest credible path? Currently he believes not and that we have overachieved on all our carbon budgets to date and therefore we can adopt a more pragmatic and realistic approach without abandoning future targets.

He announced a fairer and better approach to heating homes achieving a balance without imposing costs. As stated not doing so would cause public support to collapse. He made the following comments:

• Promise to never force anyone to rip out their boiler.
• The oil boiler ban moves from 2026 to 2035.
• Those homes that can never take a heat pump will have a lifetime exemption – estimated this will cover 20% of all homes.
• Boiler upgrade scheme will be increased to £7,500 from £5,000 for those that want to move earlier.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that many would disagree with his announcement but laid down the gauntlet by saying it is up to those people to explain to the British people why they must spend thousands. In anticipation of comments from business around consistency of government policy and targets he commented there is no point in having targets if people don’t support them.

In terms of legal issues, he reiterated that all targets will be met even with these changes and recommitted to the 2030 carbon reduction target of 68%.

Other comments and announcements.

The Prime Minister also moved the ban on petrol and diesel cars to 2035 from 2030, reduced the target for gas boiler replacement to 80% and removed imposition of energy efficiency measures on landlords.

There were many other things he commented he would never do including imposition of taxes on meat and reduction in flying.

Probably more interesting he announced the first ever grid spatial plan which will be used to consider and agree what needs to be done in local areas with respect to the electricity grid considering EV chargers and heat pump requirements.