The Mineral Products Association – the trade group representing Aggregate Industries and friends – has criticised the government's decision on red diesel.
#Budget2021 MPA welcomes short-term #AggregatesLevy freeze but is disappointed by future tax hikes. Removing the £100m #reddiesel rebate will raise the cost of #mineralproducts and the cost of the #homes & #infrastructure they’re essential for #building.https://t.co/HWlZxyYh5W pic.twitter.com/nE7PGWyCQw
— Mineral Products Association (@MineralProduct) March 3, 2021
…red diesel will be available only to agriculture and the rail sector. Users of off-highway construction machinery will have to pay an extra 46.81 pence per litre for their diesel, paying the standard tax rate of 57.95 pence per litre rather than the subsidised red diesel rate of 11.14 pence per litre.
On red diesel it is a disappointing decision that is really just a soft target tax raid. Our sector pays its fair share of environmental taxes already and has a great track record on reducing carbon and contributing to biodiversity net gain.
Of course, when Mr Jackson talks about the mineral sector having "a great track record on reducing carbon" he obviously can’t have Aggregate Industries in mind. Carbon emissions from Aggregate Industries – the UK subsidiary of cement giant LafargeHolcim – are 5x what they were 20 years ago, and were still rising the last time the company bothered to report them.
In which case, you might think, that can only mean spectacular carbon reduction from Messrs. Breedon, Cemex, Hanson, Tarmac et al. But given that the sector’s CO2 emissions from, for example, cement production were 695.6 kg/tonne in 2016 and by 2019 no better at 702.4 kg/tonne, according to the MPA’s own figures, you’re left wondering what a great track record looks like.
Perhaps the £100m tax raid will help focus industry minds, to use fossil fuels more carefully.
CO2 is now 50% higher than pre-industrial levels
— Richard Betts (@richardabetts) March 16, 2021
When I first started in climate science nearly 30 years ago we used “doubled CO2” as a standard scenario for future projections
Back then it seemed like a very long time away
But now we’re halfway there
https://t.co/0fvS7vIcQn pic.twitter.com/iMY1XfNq9H
