Change of frequency of Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Mandate Official Statistics: user engagement notice
Published 12 February 2026
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Summary
The Department for Transport (DfT) publishes provisional and final statistics on renewable fuel supply and trading. We are seeking external users’ views on reducing the frequency of publication of provisional data.
Background
The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) statistics and the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Mandate statistics disseminate data on their respective policies, allowing stakeholders and the public to track the progress of each. Publications currently follow a cycle comprising five provisional releases and one final release per obligation year. These six releases take place over a 16-month period, with three months between each release.
Proposed change
The proposal comprises reducing the frequency of provisional publication for both the RTFO and SAF mandate statistics, from five to two. The proposed schedule is illustrated in Table 1: it provides an early view of emerging trends within the obligation year itself (in the form of the first provisional), as well as a view of trends near to the closure of the application window (in the form of the second provisional) and then the final set of statistics.
| RTFO and SAFM Publications | Coverage | Current Publication Date | Proposed Publication Date | Rationale for change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First provisional | January - August 2025 | August 2025 | September 2025 | A first provisional publication is important as it provides an early insight into how the policies are functioning for the current obligation year. Pushing the publication date back a month will provide additional data compared to the current release timing, where usually very limited information is available for publication. |
| Second provisional | January - October 2025 | November 2025 | N/A | With the first release in September, the amount of additional insights is limited. In recent years, the second provisional showed some of the lowest unique web page views of all provisional releases. |
| Third provisional | January – December 2025 | February 2026 | N/A | We recommend removing this provisional release and bringing the next provisional release forward. This is because it aligns better with the RTFO application deadline. Also, by bringing the fourth provisional forward the releases are equally spaced across the publication schedule, providing the public with regular updates. |
| Fourth provisional | January – December 2025 | May 2026 | April 2026 | We recommend keeping this release and bringing it forward by one month. This means it will closely aligns with the deadline for suppliers to submit applications, giving almost a full picture of supply for the obligation year. |
| Fifth Provisional | January – December 2025 | August 2026 | N/A | In recent years, there were only small changes to data from the fourth to fifth provisionals, since the obligation for the relevant year has closed. Also, data from recent years shows the fifth provisional had some of the lowest unique page views of all provisionals. |
| Final | January – December 2025 | November 2026 | November 2026 | Completed dataset for the obligation year. No changes expected. |
We would continue to publish the same number of tables per provisional release, and would continue to publish the provisional releases as Excel files. This will ensure that users of the statistics can continue to access and compare data across releases in their usual way.
Reason for proposed change
The Code of Practice for Statistics emphasises that government statisticians should consider adjusting outputs where appropriate, to maintain public value. In assessing against the dimensions of quality and value, we believe that the proposed schedule would enhance user value by minimising incomplete snapshots of data.
How to feed back
We are inviting users of the RTFO and SAF Mandate statistics to provide comments on the proposed change by the 13th March 2026.
Please include in your response an indication of:
- Your role as a data user (e.g. your profession/industry)
- The estimated impact that the proposed change will have on you (e.g. nil, minimal, moderate, high)
- How you currently use the data
Email comments directly to environment.stats@dft.gov.uk. Subject to the views of users, we intend to implement this change for the 2026 reporting year, with the first 2026 provisional release taking place in September 2026.