Top fuel distributors take big Mayo step in reducing carbon emissions

Certa, one of Ireland's largest fuel distributors, have transitioned their fleet of delivery vehicles in all of itsMayo depots in Claremorris, Ballyhaunis, Clew Bay and Ballina from running on diesel to Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO).

The move will see Certa’s national fleet of over 100 trucks run on the biofuel by the end of March following a successful trial in 2022.

Collectively, Certa’s fleet travels over 3,000,000 km annually and the switch to HVO is the equivalent of reducing its fleet to 9 trucks in terms of carbon emissions output.

The fuel itself, as the name suggests, is produced from waste plant matter, and emits no new carbon into the atmosphere. Compared with regular diesel, HVO offers a reduction in carbon emissions by up to 90%.

Part of the DCC Energy Group, Certa distributes heating oil from 22 depots across Ireland as well as supplying commercial fuels to a wide range of businesses nationwide.

In 2022, the company started to supply hydrotreated vegetable oil to a range of sectors in Ireland as a sustainable alternative fuel to regular diesel.

Since the beginning of the initiative, Certa have helped some of Ireland's largest events go fossil-free including Electric Picnic, the National Ploughing Championships and the Irish Open.

In addition, they have supplied their GD+ HVO product to companies in tech, transport, construction and a host of other sectors.

Notably, John Sisk & Sons, Ireland's largest construction company, has worked with Certa to mandate the use of HVO fuel across all of its Irish sites.

Cormac Durnin, Operations Director for Certa Ireland, said “While we are working with numerous commercial customers to help drive down their carbon emission through renewable fuels, we’re particularly excited to be fuelling our own fleet of over 100 trucks with HVO.

"The transition was seamless, we had no retrofitting on our vehicles to do.

“All our delivery depots are carefully selected and situated within the hearts of their communities which enables us to reduce our kilometres travelled and in turn our emissions.

"We’ll continue to invest in a dedicated HVO infrastructure for each depot while our ‘Greener HGV’ driver training program is also aimed at further reducing our carbon footprint.

"It is not only about changing our fuel type, but reducing kilometres travelled.”