Professor Jepma: ‘Gas cars must be encouraged’

On Prinsjesdag (Budget day) it was announced that excise duty is going to be charged on natural gas from petrol stations. At last clarity has been achieved on the costs linked to driving on gas. Because the excise duty on natural gas has been kept low, the government hopes that this very clean fuel will increase in popularity in the coming years. The ‘Driving on Gas’ working group was one of the driving forces behind the excise duty regulation. Catrinus Jepma, professor of Energy and Sustainability, was the chair. He is pleased with the excise duty regulation, but thinks that everything could go a lot faster. ‘Compared with other countries, we’re really lagging behind’.

According to Jepma, the most important argument for promoting driving on gas is the problem of fine particles. ‘The Council of State has stopped a number of large construction projects because the concentration of fine particles in certain areas of the Randstad conurbation were well above European norms. Because this can slow down economic growth, this problem was given a very high priority.’ According to Jepma, fine particles are ‘easily – even compared with the number of traffic fatalities – the greatest killer of our time’.

Completely clean
Jepma believes that driving on gas will contribute significantly to solving this problem. ‘The best thing about natural gas is that it’s almost completely clean. Unlike diesel, no fine particles are released when natural gas is combusted’. Driving on natural gas will also reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and CO2, even more than LPG. ‘As far as the environment is concerned, natural gas is way ahead. Even if you only have buses using natural gas, the effects can be significant’. The ‘Driving on Gas’ working group, of which Jepma is the chair, thus wrote a letter last year to a number of politicians setting out this solution. The working group is part of the ‘transitional management’, an inter-departmental initiative with the aim of stimulating sustainable energy.

In the letter the working group suggested setting up a so-called city ring: large cities supplied with a large number of natural gas pumps. There are currently only seven such pumps in the whole of the Netherlands. Jepma: ‘Then you have to convert buses, taxis, ambulances and courier services to natural gas – they move in small circles, after all. As more pumps are installed, the private cars will follow as a matter of course’. The letter was very well received by the various ministries. ‘A direct result of our letter was that on Prinsjesdag 2006, an announcement will be made about what the excise duty on natural gas will be. That was still unclear’. This uncertainty has held many people back from investing in driving on gas. The excise duty regulation should change this.

Low excise duty
The excise duty on natural gas is much lower than that on other fuels. ‘That’s why the Ministry of Finance asked us to calculate the environmental returns. If driving on gas becomes popular, the treasury is going to lose out financially. We then did a calculation together with SenterNovem which showed that the environmental and economic return is so high that it pays for itself with ease. Taking our calculations as their starting point, the ministry could then prepare the fiscal proposal’.

Jepma hopes that the excise duty regulation will help to popularize driving on gas. ‘Compared with other countries, we’re really lagging behind. There are already 700 natural gas pumps in Germany, and over half a million cars in Italy drive on gas’. According to Jepma, this is partly due to the oil companies. ‘They have a lot of influence here and naturally want things to continue as they are for as long as possible. But we can still catch up’. The North could play an important role, thinks Jepma. ‘If Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe are the first area to convert en masse to natural gas, that would have a massive PR value. But then the various municipalities and provinces would have to work together – and that’s not happening enough yet’.

Curriculum Vitae
Catrinus Jepma studied Economics and Law in Groningen. He has worked for the RUG since 1977, where he also gained his PhD on research into trade flows from third-world countries. Jepma teaches International Economics at the RUG and is professor of International Environmental Economics at the University of Amsterdam and the Open University, and professor of Energy and Sustainability at the RUG. About fifteen years ago he began to concentrate on energy and sustainability matters from the perspective of international economics. His research in the last five years has concentrated in particular on the liberalization of the energy market in Europe. He has been invited to become the scientific director of the Energy Delta Research Centre (EDReC) – based at the Faculty of Economics – in recognition of his expertise in the field of energy.