uk decides to cut harmful emissions

As expected, the UK government revealed a raft of new measures today designed to cut harmful emissions and promote EV adoption. The package, known collectively as the Road to Zero Strategy, builds on a pledge to ban sales of fossil fuel-powered vehicles by 2040. It includes a target or "ambition" to have at least half of all new car sales be "ultra low emission" by 2030. The government also announced its "intention" to make all new homes and street lighting with road-side parking come with EV charging points. The former requires a consultation, however, that will be launched "as soon as possible."

Environment campaigners are unimpressed with the proposals. Dustin Benton, policy director for the Green Alliance, believes 2040 is "far too late" for a ban on conventional gas-guzzlers. "Moving it to 2030 and setting a zero-emissions vehicles mandate, as both China and California have done, would encourage car companies to build electric cars in the UK, and give the country a head start on its competitors across Europe," he said. Morten Thaysen, clean air campaigner at Greenpeace, agreed: "[It] should be a decade earlier to deliver any incentive to the car industry and make a dent in transport emissions."

Earlier this year, multiple newspapers suggested that the 2040 deadline would include hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius. The UK government denied these reports, and, today, reaffirmed its position as part of the Road to Zero Strategy. The Department for Transport declared that it was "technology neutral" and has no plan to ban any alternative fuel system, including hybrids. It also clarified that new cars and vans would need "significant zero emission capability" from 2040. "By 2050 we want almost every car and van to be zero emission," the report reads.