§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to ensure that the UK takes a leading role in meeting the European Commission's objective of a 20 per cent. substitution by alternative fuels in the road transport sector by 2020. [72862]
§ Mr, JamiesonThe UK actively promotes the wider use of alternative fuels through the low rates of duty on liquefied petroleum gas, natural gas, biodiesel and hydrogen road fuel; the lower rates of vehicle excise duty and company car tax on alternatively-fuelled vehicles; Enhanced Capital Allowances for investment in compressed natural gas and hydrogen fuel infrastructure; and the TransportAction programmes of grants for purchase of or conversion to alternatively-fuelled cars, buses and goods vehicles. There are also fuel duty exemptions under the Green Fuels Challenge, subject to European agreement, for three pilot projects relating to the capture and use of landfill bio-gas, hydrogen refuelling infrastructure and the use of methanol, with a further round of the Green Fuels Challenge currently in progress, offering support for the pilot testing of further promising alternative fuels.