Heavy good vehicles users can, for the first time, buy carbon neutral fuel called "BioCNG" at select Circle K fuel stations nationwide for their Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fleet.
Flogas Enterprise has agreed a deal with Circle K to supply biomethane which can be compressed into the renewable fuel BioCNG at its fuelling stations across Ireland.
BioCNG is currently available in Ballysimon Road in Limerick, Cashel in Co Tipperary and Clonshaugh and Dublin Port in Co Dublin.
The move marks another step forward in reducing emissions from the country's transport industry - one of the most difficult industries to decarbonise.
Structurally identical to natural gas, biomethane is a carbon neutral renewable gas that can be made from farm and food waste through a process known as anaerobic digestion.
An anaerobic digestion machine converts agricultural waste into energy, helping reduce carbon emissions from agricultural waste.
Farmers take manure from the farm, and put it into the machine's tank; micro-organisms digest it and produce biogas which is used to generate electricity and heat.
The resulting purified methane is then compressed and used as a transportation fuel.
Circle K is the first public company to offer biomethane/BioCNG to the public at their stations.
The biomethane is sourced at Green Gas Generation' Anaerobic Digestion plant in Nurney in Kildare.
Flogas Enterprise, which is part of DCC, was the first supplier in Ireland to supply biomethane through the gas network to companies like Tesco and Diageo.
"Ireland's commercial transport fleet makes up just 3% of vehicles on the road nationwide yet is responsible for approximately a fifth of transport's carbon emissions. Heavy Goods Vehicles or HGVs operating on 100% BioCNG can achieve significantly less carbon emissions," said Barry Murphy, Commercial Director of Flogas Enterprise.
"Our contract with Circle K comes at a time where we are observing an ever-increasing number of commercial fleets converting to CNG and BioCNG on a global scale," Mr Murphy said.
"While electricity is a proven alternate fuel for cars, electric solutions are currently not a viable option in heavy goods vehicles, however CNG and BioCNG are, and are now being used by businesses throughout Europe," he added.
"We estimate that since BioCNG has been available at the four Circle K outlets, almost 4,000 tonnes of carbon emissions, have been saved - that's equivalent to over 40,000 carbon neutral kilometres," said Brian Connolly, Senior Fuels Manager, Circle K Ireland.
