BP says govts put fuel revenues over environment
Date: 19-Jan-01
Country: UK
Author: Damian Reilly
"We have observed that governments are apparently more driven by revenue than enviromental objectives when setting the level of fuel duties," the company said in a written report to a the UK Parliament's Enviromental Audit Select Committee.
"We have also questioned the environmental efficacy of motor fuel taxes, mainly because they have so little effect on consumer behaviour," the report, submitted by BP Oil UK director John Mumford, said.
In a society reliant on road transport, motorists can do little to avoid petrol consumption, whatever the price, the report said.
"The lack of alternatives and the importance of the motor car in modern life has left consumers with little option but to pay whatever tax is levied by the government," it said.
Excise duty and value added tax, which account for three-quarters of the pump fuel prices in Britain, were the main focus of the protests last September that threatened to bring the country to a standstill.
BP emphasised it was not against fuel levies in principle, however.
"We do support the use of duty incentives as a means of encouraging the uptake of cleaner fuels by the general public when they are introduced," it said in its submission.
Asked by the select committee if the production of BP's Cleaner Unleaded product, launched last year to replace normal unleaded fuel, used a disproportionate amount of energy reducing fuel emissions, Mumford said:
"There is some energy used reducing emissions, but it is to some extent counter-balanced by the low emissions.
"In the short-term, it doesn't balance out."
He added that continued developments would make the process more energy-efficient in the longer run.
Cleaner Unleaded is an Ultra Low Sulphur Petrol (ULSP) and is currently available on only 60 percent of BP's forecourts nationwide.
Wider national coverage for the product, which has 66 percent less sulphur than ordinary unleaded petrol and thus reduces vehicle emissions, is intended for April this year, Mumford said.
"What we are aiming for is that everyone can find it near them. That doesn't mean every pump in every station," he said.