Adoption and regulation of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO): EIR release

Information requested

Information relating to the adoption, regulation, and strategic planning for Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) as a renewable fuel source in the United Kingdom and specifically:

1. Copies of any official government documents, strategies, or mandates outlining targets for the adoption of HVO fuel in the Scotland.

2. Details of any sector-specific regulations or requirements for HVO usage, particularly within:

• Public transport (bus and rail)
• Freight and logistics
• Agriculture
• Construction

3. Information on any emission reduction targets directly linked to HVO adoption, including timelines or benchmarks.

4. Documentation on any funding schemes, subsidies, penalties, or incentive programmes whether national or regional intended to support or promote the uptake of HVO fuel.

5. Any internal policy papers, ministerial communications, or guidance relating to HVO adoption under the Scotland's renewable energy, clean transport, or fuel quality frameworks, including any post-EU transition policies aligned with or replacing RED II, RED III, or Fit-for-55 equivalents.

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. This is provided to you as a separate document.

Some of the information you have requested is available from other sources. Where this is the case, links have been provided to the relevant websites. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the websites listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exceptions under regulations 10(4)(a) (the Scottish Government does not have the information), 10(4)(e) (internal communications) and 11(2) (personal data of a third party), of the EIRs apply to that information. The reasons why these exceptions apply to each of your requests are explained in the Annex to this letter.

ANNEX – EXEMPTIONS APPLIED

Regulation 10(4)(a) - The Scottish Government does not have the information

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The reasons why the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested is described below in relation to the relevant parts of your request, and principally relate to the fact that most policies relating to energy and fuel are reserved to the UK Government.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about the UK Government’s policy in relation to HVO, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

1. Copies of any official government documents, strategies, or mandates outlining targets for the adoptionof HVO fuel in the Scotland.

Under the Scotland Act 1998, which created the Scottish Parliament and regulates its powers, most policies related to energy and fuel are reserved to the UK Government. This means the Scottish Government cannot make its own independent policies in these areas. Specifically, Section D2 of Schedule 5 states that matters concerning electricity, oil, and gas are reserved. This includes the regulation of fuel standards and infrastructure. The regulation of vehicle standards and fuels is explicitly reserved under Section E4 of the Scotland Act. This means that rules about what kinds of fuels can be used, how they are composed, and the standards they must meet are set by the UK Government for the whole of the Kingdom, including Scotland.

The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), which mandates the use of renewable fuels like hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) in transport, is governed by UK-wide legislation including the Energy Act 2004 and UK ministers control its secondary legislation. The Scottish Government cannot therefore introduce its own separate policies, strategies or mandates.

I invite you to contact the relevant UK Government departments handling reserved matters to access the documents, strategies and mandates relevant to HVO fuel in Scotland through their dedicated FOI contact points, as follows: for the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), FOI requests can be sent to foi@trade.gov.uk; for the Department for Transport (DfT), FOI requests go to foi@dft.gov.uk; and for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), FOI requests should be sent to FOI@desnz.gov.uk.

2. Details of any sector-specific regulations or requirements for HVO usage, particularly within: Public transport (bus and rail), Freight and logistics, Agriculture, Construction.

As mentioned previously, all regulations and requirements for HVO usage as a fuel are a responsibility of the UK Government, and the Scottish Government therefore does not have devolved regulations or requirements. I invite you to contact the relevant UK Government Department.

3. Information on any emission reduction targets directly linked to HVO adoption, including timelines or benchmarks.

As mentioned previously, all regulations and requirements for HVO usage as a fuel are a responsibility of the UK Government, and the Scottish Government therefore cannot impose targets, timelines or benchmarks. I invite you to contact the relevant UK Government Department.

4. Documentation on any funding schemes, subsidies, penalties, or incentive programmes whether national or regional intended to support or promote the uptake of HVO fuel.

As mentioned previously, all regulations and requirements for HVO usage as a fuel are a responsibility of the UK Government, and the Scottish Government therefore cannot impose penalties.

Local councils and regional enterprise agencies may have their own programmes relevant to your enquiry; however, they are separate public authorities and are not covered by your request to the Scottish Government.

Policies may also be developed by the various train operating companies and franchises operating in Scotland—such as ScotRail, Lumo, LNER, and Avanti—but these operators are not public bodies covered by the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 or the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, and are therefore not subject to these laws through the Scottish Government.

5. Any internal policy papers, ministerial communications, or guidance relating to HVO adoption under the Scotland's renewable energy, clean transport, or fuel quality frameworks, including any post-EU transition policies aligned with or replacing RED II, RED III, or Fit-for-55 equivalents.

As mentioned previously, all regulations and binding guidance for HVO usage as a fuel are a responsibility of the UK Government, and the Scottish Government therefore does not have devolved binding guidance. I invite you to contact the relevant UK Government Department should you want to pursue your request.

For any policy papers, the information you requested has already been addressed in a previous EIR response. You can access the full details at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202500450411/.

Regulation 10(4)(e) – internal communications

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) applies to some of the information you have requested because it is internal communication about lines to take.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in allowing a private space within which officials can provide free and frank advice and views to Ministers in briefing for lines to take. It is clearly in the public interest that Ministers can properly and robustly defend the Government’s policies and decisions. They need full and candid advice from officials to enable them to do so. Premature disclosure of this type of information could lead to a reduction in the comprehensiveness and frankness of such advice and views in the future, which would not be in the public interest.

Regulation 11(2) –personal data of a third party

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

EIR 202500476489 - Information released - Document

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