Is the Dutch government dodging the biofuels tax issue?

Last month, Ton Vermie, sustainable transport coordinator for the city of Rotterdam and a prominent sustainable mobility expert, sent an open e-mail to the Dutch government in which he criticised its stance on biofuels.

Vermie said that the government need to act to increase the number of biofuel filling stations and to reduce taxes on biofuels, in order to encourage the uptake of higher blend biofuels.

“It can be done, if the government wants it,” he said.

Ignoring the question over taxes
But in an exclusive email to MindsinMotion.net, Hans de Waal, biofuels policy coordinator at the Ministry of Environment, ignored the question over taxes, preferring to regurgitate the government’s official hard-line on biofuels:

“The Netherlands is one of the few EU Member States to have implemented the EC Directive on biofuels, introducing an obligation to put a certain share of biofuels on the market. This share is 3.25 % of the fossil fuels for transport, growing to 5.75 % in 2010. Within this obligation, oil companies have a choice to use low bio-blends or higher bio-blends or even pure biofuel on the market. Through tradability of the obligation with bio-tickets, there is a price incentive for over performance. The government considers itself one of the front runners in the EU with this policy. We are assessing the possibility for a 20% share of sustainable produced biofuels in 2020, as laid down in our working programme, Schoon en Zuinig, which implements the energy and climate policy of the Dutch government.”

Shame
It’s a shame the government doesn’t seem prepared to discuss the tax issue. Vermie is not the first person to criticise the biofuels tax position and he certainly won’t be the last. He also speaks with considerable practical experience behind him, having masterminded Rotterdam’s successful programme to achieve its target of 1,000 flexi-fuel vehicles in the Rotterdam region and another 2,000 in the rest of the Netherlands.