North-West fuel supplier, Crown Oil is now running its entire fleet on renewable diesel fuel as it commits to reducing its direct CO2 greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent.

The Greater Manchester business, part of the £420m-turnover Crown Oil family of companies, believes it is the first supplier in the UK to run all of its oil delivery vehicles on hydrotreated vegetable oil.

The company predicts a saving of around 3,080 tonnes of CO2 in 12 months across its 85 delivery HGVs, pickups, trailers and vans.

Managing director Matthew Greensmith said the move demonstrates the fuel’s ability to perform faultlessly as a diesel alternative, he said, and will enable the business to significantly reduce its direct greenhouse gas emissions.

Greensmith is now calling on the UK government to introduce tax relief on fuels such as HVO to encourage greater uptake.

“When it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we hope the government will adopt a multi-point strategy to include the use of high-content renewable fuels in addition to the development of the electric vehicle market.

“In 2017, the Swedish government passed a bill that enabled biofuels to be subject to tax exemption, which led to a 124 per cent increase in HVO sales in October 2017 compared with the previous year.

“The UK government is planning to scrap red diesel duty relief for many sectors from 1 April 2022 to encourage the use of cleaner alternatives and we are calling for duty relief on fuels such as HVO to help encourage uptake.”

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