Britain, as a part of its plan to minimize greenhouse gas emissions from transport to net zero by the middle of the century, is set to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel trucks by 2040.
According to the new rules that are part of the government’s long awaited “transport decarbonization plan”, all the new polluting vehicles will be phased out within the following two decades.
The ban on sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030 was disclosed in the month of November as a part of Boris Johnson’s 10-point climate plan.
Reports suggests that UK’s transport constitutes for nearly third of the country’s CO2 emissions before the beginning of the pandemic COVID 19.
In a statement cited by Independent, UK’s transport secretary Grant Shapps said, “It’s not about stopping people doing things, it’s about doing the same things differently.”
He added, “The transport decarbonization plan is just the start, we will need continued efforts and collaboration to deliver its ambitious commitments, which will ultimately create sustainable economic growth through healthier communities as we build back greener.”
Among other measures taken in the UK’s blueprint for slashing emissions from transport, a pledge to achieve ‘net zero aviation emission’ by 2050 aims at slashing emissions from domestic flights to net Zero as earlier as 2040.
The plans targeted at reducing pollution from aviation are the part of the government’s ‘Jet Zero’ initiative that was previously termed as unrealistic notifying that the technology to slash the climate impact of flying is yet in its infancy.
Dr Doug Parr, chief scientist for Greenpeace UK commented, “With aviation, the net zero targets are welcome, but getting there through technological advances alone is a very big bet on very long odds.”
He expressed that if this happens, everyone will be delighted. Further, he elaborated that they too need a mechanism to achieve those same emissions cuts if the advances do not materialize. “Unless we are very lucky, we will need some demand constraint and it would be foolish of the government not to be planning that now”, he added.
The government also stated that it would switch its full fleet of, 40,000 cars and vans to Zero emissions vehicles by 2027.
This transport decarbonization plan is one among various government strategies working on the climate crisis due to be released ahead of Cop26. The Cop26 is a major conference that is being organized by the UK in November.
In the previous month, the country’s climate advisers raised concerns warning that the government must quickly formulate its plans regarding how it will turn its lofty climate promises into actions or else risk risk failure at the talks.
Head of Climate policy at the think tank Green Alliance, Caterina Brandmayr voiced that the initiative is ‘very encouraging’. She said, “The step up in ambition to ban the sale of all new polluting vehicles , beyond cars and vans, by 2040 is vital to address the largest source of transport emission.”
She added that now they require a range of concrete measures, including a mandate on manufactures to sell clean vehicles, and further clear interim targets to accelerate emission cuts across all parts of the country and put the sector firmly on track for net zero.
