The New Zealand government will introduce its sustainable biofuels mandate from 1 April 2023 when fuel wholesalers will be required to cut total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for road transport fuels they sell by a set percentage each year, by using biofuels as a part of their fuel supply.
A separate mandate for jet fuel will be developed next year given the challenges the aviation sector faces in reducing GHG, New Zealand transport minister Michael Wood said in a statement.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is working with Air New Zealand on a feasibility study on the potential for domestic production of sustainable aviation fuel and this will feed into that work, Wood said.
The biofuels mandate was proposed earlier in the year. The transport sector is New Zealand's second biggest source of GHG emissions, contributing 21.1pc to total emissions over 1990-2018. Since 1990, transport emissions have increased by 90pc within transport, and road emissions have more than doubled, the New Zealand government said in a policy paper for the biofuels mandate.
Around two thirds of domestic transport emissions come from cars, sports utility vehicles and vans. Heavy road vehicles are responsible for around 25pc of domestic transport emissions, aviation 7pc and shipping and rail 2pc, it said.
New Zealand has set a target of being a net-zero GHG emissions economy, excluding biogenic methane, by 2050. It also has a target to reduce emissions to 41pc by 2030 from 2005 levels, up from 30pc previously.
New Zealand's gross audited GHG emissions rose to 82.32mn t of CO2e in 2019 from 78.9mn t of CO2e in 2018.
Earlier this year, the New Zealand government's key climate change advisor recommended that the ruling Labour party adopt an electric vehicle policy by 30 June 2022 and undertake its advice to ensure imports of low-emission light vehicles by as early as 2030 but no later than 2035.
New Zealand had attempted to introduce a biofuel quota in 2008 that stipulated a 2.5pc biodiesel share in road transport fuels only but was repealed before it came into effect.
