Gull New Zealand is welcoming the Government’s proposed biofuels mandate and says it requires “urgent action” which will see an immediate reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the country’s transport sector.
“Hooray, a bloody sensible approach to reduce carbon emissions from everyone’s everyday life without everybody waiting years to buy a new car or waiting for light rail or bus lane to be built,” Gull NZ general manager Dave Bodger says.
“Sustainable biofuels can be blended into everyday petrol and diesel people buy at their servo, this reduces carbon or GHG emissions from the next time we start our car and then each time after that.
Bodger says the Climate Change Commission’s proposal for changing New Zealand’s fleet to EVs has “significant merit” in the long term, but it will take some time to achieve.
“Gull has been producing and using biofuels for the last 14 years as part of reducing transport emissions.
“We were the first to introduce biofuels and making the widespread use of biofuels across New Zealand’s service station network would mean an immediate decrease in greenhouse gases using Kiwis’ existing vehicles without having to wait many years before everyone can afford an EV,” he says.
Bodger says that a government sustainable biofuels mandate will make the widespread use of biofuels possible to reduce Aotearoa’s transport greenhouse gases.
“New Zealand needs a Government mandate because biofuels are significantly more expensive than any imported mineral fuel therefore no consumers will use them without subsidy or an effective mandate or both.
“This will encourage other fuel companies to invest in the technology to produce biofuels and provide them to the existing fleet right now. Really important for the country to move on biofuels now … this mandate can make an immediate big difference to our everyday emissions from our existing vehicles,” he says.
