Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) FAQs

Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd does not directly purchase HVO fuel for our sites and will expect our supply chain to support our policy position when working for Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd. We are working with our supply chain partners to keep HVO use when operating plant and fleet on our sites to an absolute minimum, for example whilst some plant may arrive from other sites with tanks part full of HVOs, once used up, we expect them not to refill their plant with HVO whilst on a Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd site.

We will continue to support our supply chain in transitioning to other types of sustainable energy solutions.

This depends on your role as a supply chain partner:

• Direct fuel suppliers – must not provide HVO or GTL to Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd sites. If you do receive a request for HVO or GTL from a Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd representative. We have also raised awareness internally on our position on these fuels, so these requests should not be raised. The only exception would be for a pre-agreed trial signed off by the relevant Business Unit Managing Director and Strategic Business Unit Head of Sustainability and recorded in the Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd HVO, G2L trial register.
• Plant/fleet providers –The Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd Plant and Fleet team can support you in the provision of equipment which meet the right standards for Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd sites. Any exceptions will need to be agreed at Business Unit Managing Director and Strategic Business Unit Head of Sustainability level and recorded.
• Subcontractors – We will share our research and innovation in this area and look to collaborate on low carbon fuel solutions. The Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd Plant and Fleet team can support the provision of equipment which meet the right standards for Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd sites. Any exceptions will need to be agreed at Business Unit Managing Director and Strategic Business Unit Head of Sustainability level and recorded.
• Logistics suppliers or suppliers bringing materials to a Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd site currently using HVO or GTL –We will share our research and innovation in this area and look to collaborate on low carbon fuel solutions.
• Materials suppliers using GTL or HVO on their own sites or operations and not on any Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd site –We will share our research and innovation in this area and look to collaborate on low carbon fuel solutions.

We have decided that for Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd, HVO will not be a transition fuel based on the current evidence available. We will not support the use of HVOs our sites. We will share our research and innovation in this area and look to collaborate on low carbon fuel solutions. If you are currently using HVO outside our sites but relevant to our scope 3 emissions, we will require evidence that the company is using HVO as a short-term transition fuel and ask for an alternative fuel transition plan. 

Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd has reviewed audit trails for HVO fuels and haven’t been satisfied that they are able to go back far enough to the original source or consider displacement activity. We have also reviewed independent research on HVO. In addition, we have taken guidance from our Group fuel supplier.

Our key concern is that global demand for used cooking oil is predicted to exceed supply. There is a known risk that this spike in demand is resulting in land use change through peatland and marshland clearance and deforestation in countries such as a Malaysia and Indonesia and that it could also increase the use of virgin palm oil to meet demand.

EU research¹ indicates that once the effects of land use change and draining of peatland are accounted for, the GHG impact of palm-oil derived HVO could be up to 3 times greater than standard fossil fuel diesel.

Our Sustainability Strategy requires us to take a responsible approach and to consider all of the environmental implications in the decisions we make.

We will keep our position under review. However, until we have understood all the potential impacts and until we can be confident beyond doubt that HVO will not cause environmental damage elsewhere, Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd will not be making a commitment to HVO. 

Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd has already undertaken trials on HVO. We are not currently looking to do further trials for HVO or GTL. However, we will continue to examine all new research and data as it becomes available. If you have new evidence or data, or if you have other sustainable energy solutions for plant and fleet, we would be willing to review them.

No, you will not have to drain your tank before coming to a Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd site. However, we expect you not to refill your plant with HVO whilst on a Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd site.

Our Sustainability Strategy requires us to consider all of the potential impacts of our actions. That includes potential negative implications in other parts of the world that could, as a result of these actions, drive global carbon emissions up. Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd has done extensive research on HVO and to date we do not believe the whole-life impacts provide sufficient sustainability benefits.

This is a situation we are keeping under constant review. We will continue to assess all the data and information that is published on HVO. We would only look again at our position if the issues we have outlined were resolved beyond doubt.

Given that the ultimate source of many HVOs in particular is uncertain, even in those that are said to be sustainably sourced, and the real risk that significant increase in use on construction sites across the country could be causing increased carbon emissions in other parts of the world due to land use change. As such, we are encouraging the Government to undertake a review of HVO use in the UK and to set clearer requirements around their use on publicly funded schemes, to provide clarity to the sector and to ensure a level playing field.

HVO is a liquid hydrocarbon which is classified for excise purposes as heavy oil and treated the same as diesel. You will therefore not have any tax advantages from using HVO. You may find that with the removal of rebated fuel, HVO becomes more expensive than white diesel.

Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd is committed to phasing out the use of diesel and other fossil fuels in our operations as quickly as possible – but we are determined to ensure that we do so responsibly. While we are considering how to ensure the traceability and true impact of products including HVO and GTL, we are continuing to make progress on decarbonising our plant and fleet in other ways. In line with our Sustainability Strategy, Building New Futures, Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd is pursuing the following steps to reduce carbon emissions from its plant and fleet:

• Hiring or procuring the most efficient plant that meets latest engine emission standards (Stage V).
• Using electric, hybrid and hydrogen powered machinery where available.
• Training operators on the efficient use of the machinery (idling & fuel efficiency), including the launch of the Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd Flannery ‘Operator Skills Hub>’ in 2020.
• Using telemetry to monitor fuel use and utilisation.
• Using machine control systems to maximise productivity and minimise the amount of additional work required (preventing over-digging and backfilling etc).
• Retrofitting existing plant with selective catalytic reduction technology (SCRT) - whilst this reduces particulates, NOx, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide and brings them up to Stage V requirements - it does increase fuel consumption by 3%.
• Using Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd power profiler,EcoNet, grid connections and battery systems to minimise the need for diesel powered generators.
• Using EcoSense cabins, which contain a range of sustainable applications and components including occupier-activated extractor fan sensors and lower kilowatt heaters with built-in, self-regulating digital thermostats, which will reduce carbon emissions on site by up to 30%.
• For smaller plant there are a range of fully electric and hybrid solutions that are already on the market. For larger plant Balfour Beatty Investment Holdings Ltd are seeing the introduction of hybrid plant and expect to see more hydrogen powered plant in the next two to three years.
• Collaborating relentlessly on innovative design, trialling and deployment
• Setting up a Towards a zero carbon construction site