The fuel industry has launched the 'We are well on the way' campaign. With this, the NOVE (Dutch Organization for the Energy Industry) wants to make the Netherlands aware of what is already happening to reduce CO2 emissions from means of transport, tools and machines on behalf of its members. “A lot is already happening and we have already achieved a lot. In addition, we want to show that there are many ways to use current vessels and vehicles in a more environmentally friendly way,” says NOVE director Erik de Vries.

There is a lot of attention for electrification. That is an important step towards a CO2-neutral world, but there are also other solutions for the short term, says De Vries. “It is unrealistic to expect the entire Dutch vehicle fleet to be electric within a few years. That is simply not feasible.”

Betting on biofuels

De Vries and his supporters therefore plead for other solutions to make full use of. “And this is already happening,” says NOVE chairman and fuel trader Nico van Staveren. “For example, if you fill up with petrol or diesel, you are already filling up with up to ten percent biofuel. Not everyone is aware of that.” Van Staveren alludes to E10 – petrol with a maximum of ten percent bioethanol – and B7 – diesel with a maximum of seven percent biodiesel. Green gas can even be fueled 100% biologically and HVO 100 achieves a 90% CO2 reduction. According to the Dutch Emissions Authority, CO2 emissions from the transport sector have decreased by more than five percent in 2020 compared to 2010, thanks to the use of these biofuels. “That is already very nice and we want to increase that percentage further. That is why our aim is to focus more on such alternative fuels.”

Current fleet

The advantage of biofuels is that they can be used in the existing vehicle and vessel fleet. De Vries: “The government wants to eventually get rid of vehicles with combustion engines. But with the current 10 million vehicles in the Netherlands with combustion engines, we can already achieve a 10 to 30% reduction in CO2 emissions. Using existing vehicles with a biofuel is actually very sustainable.” The fuel industry continues to develop alternative fuels, so that energy carriers – such as petrol and diesel – consist to an increasing extent of CO2-neutral fuels. “We therefore call on the government to encourage alternative energy carriers more emphatically during the transition period,” says De Vries.

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