Renewable Transport Fuel Policy 2025-2027 helps to reduce impact of petrol and diesel emissions
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Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien today published the Renewable Fuels for Transport Policy 2025-2027. Increasing use of renewable fuels in the transport sector helps to reduce the emissions impact of petrol and diesel and contribute to the overall decarbonisation of transport.
The new two-year policy addresses the need to increase the proportion of renewable fuels that are used in the transport sector, as set out in both the Climate Action Plan and the European Renewable Energy Directive. It maintains a clear path to the Climate Action Plan (CAP) biofuel blending target for 2030 and responds to changes in the requirements of the European Renewable Energy Directive for an increased renewable energy share in transport consumption.
The policy will deliver the CAP23 biofuel targets of at least B20 (20% biodiesel equivalent) in diesel and E10 (10% ethanol) in petrol by 2030, with an interim target of B12/E10 by 2025. Biofuel targets determine how much fuel from renewable sources, like biodiesel, HVO or ethanol, should be blended into the petrol and diesel supplied to the transport sector.
Reaching these targets will achieve a projected emission saving of 1.08 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030.
Under the measures in the Policy, the renewable transport fuel obligation (RTFO) will be updated to include road and rail transport. The policy also includes incentives for a wide variety of renewable fuels supply, and includes revised sub-targets for supply of advanced biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO), and future fuels such as green hydrogen and synthetic efuels.
A new measure under the Policy will see the award of certificates for supply of renewable electricity at public charge points. These certificates can be traded with fuel suppliers within the RTFO offering a new revenue stream to support further investment in electric charging infrastructure.
The Policy also commits to a review of the incentives available for different fuel types aligning more closely to the EU Renewable Energy Directive, and with due regard to supporting indigenous production.
The Policy will continue to support the sustainability of biofuel supply, maintaining a cap on supply of crop-based biofuels, and the reduction to zero in supply of biofuels made from raw material that is high-risk for land use change, such as palm oil. As previously announced, new regulations on the exclusion of POME derived biofuel from the award of additional RTFO certificates under the National Oil Reserves Agency Act 2007 (Additional Certificates for Renewable Transport Fuel) Regulations 2023 (S.I. No. 143 of 2023), will come into effect on 1 July 2025 to address sustainability concerns.
“I am pleased to launch the Renewable Transport Fuel Policy 2025-2027. While we continue to focus on embedding electrification, public transport and active travel measures, reducing our historic reliance on imported fossil fuel in transport and switching to alternative fuels and technologies will be essential to decarbonise transport. This renewed Policy will also provide more certainty to economic operators and stakeholders, who are key to the delivery of emission reduction targets in the transport sector.
“The RTFO achieved a physical biofuel blend rate of 10.1% in 2024, ensuring that the 2025 Climate Action Plan biofuel blending target is on course to be achieved and leading a clear pathway to a CAP E10/B20 by 2030 target. The success of the Policy to date is a collective achievement by the fuel supply and biofuel and biogas production industry and we will continue to work with stakeholders to deliver on our CAP and EU obligations.
“The Policy provides a framework for taking steps to safeguard the sustainable supply of biofuels in Ireland. It is essential that biofuel imports are required to meet the strict sustainability criteria under the EU Renewable Energy Directive to ensure that EU biofuel producers are not disadvantaged and to avoid negatively impacting further development.”
Minister for Transport, Darragh O'Brien
Notes
466m litres of liquid biofuels and 5m litres equivalent of gaseous fuels were placed on the market in 2024, which was an increase from 387m litres of liquid biofuels and 4.2m litres equivalent of gaseous fuels in 2023.
The Climate Action Plan biofuel target is for at least B20 (biodiesel equivalent) in diesel and E10 (ethanol) in petrol by 2030 (with an interim B12/E10 by 2025 target). In 2024, biofuel blending under the RTFO delivered 9% ethanol in petrol and 10.3% biodiesel/HVO in diesel, on track to meet the 2025 interim CAP targets. Modelling analysis of the Climate Action Plan target projects a 1.08 MtCO2eq abatement saving by 2030 from the 2030 biofuel target.
Delivery of the biofuel targets are a significant contributor to the overall 50% emissions reduction target for the transport sector as set out in the Climate Action Plan 2025 and EU obligations under the Renewable Energy Directive.
Data provided by the National Oil Reserves Agency (NORA) indicates that since CAP21, annual increases in the RTFO rate under the Policy have delivered an increase in annual carbon displacement, based on the physical replacement of fossil with renewable fuel, of an estimated additional 0.2MT CO2eq each year since 2021 to c. 1.1MT CO2eq in 2024. It is expected that this trend of increase in carbon displacement will continue into 2025 because of the increase in the 2025 RTFO blend rate to 25% (up from a blend rate in 2024 of 21% by energy).
The SEAI calculates that biofuel blending through the RTFO avoided the equivalent of 236,279 internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles on Irish roads in 2024, representing 8.2% of the ICE and hybrid vehicle fleet. This is up from 4.4% in 2019.
Climate Action Plan 2025 (CAP25) is the third statutory annual update to Ireland's Climate Action Plan under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021. The Plan provides a roadmap for taking decisive action to halve Ireland’s emissions by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by no later than 2050, as committed to in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021. You can view The Climate Action Plan 2025 and its annex of actions by visiting Climate Action Plan 2025.
The Renewable Transport Fuel Policy is available here: