The sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the UK will be banned from 2030, it has been announced.
The announcement by the Prime Minister, Transport Secretary and Business Secretary sees the date for sales to be banned brought forward from 2040 under a 10-point plan to tackle climate change.
According to the UK Government, the move will put the UK on course to be the fastest G7 country to decarbonise cars and vans. Hybrid cars and vans can still be sold until 2035 under the plans, but after that point, all new cars and vans must be zero emissions at the tailpipe.
The plans have been described by some as ‘optimistic’, with less than 1% of cars on the UK’s roads currently being powered completely by electricity.
£1.8 billion has been announced by the Government to support greater uptake of electric vehicles, including funding for more charge points to be built across the country. The plans are part of those to tackle climate change and promote a green economic recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking about the plans, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said;
“The UK is going further and faster than any other major economy to decarbonise transport, harnessing the power of clean, green technology to end the UK’s contribution to climate change by 2050.
“Bringing forward the phase-out date could create 40,000 extra jobs by 2030, particularly in our manufacturing heartlands of the North East and across the Midlands, and will see emissions reductions equivalent to taking more than 4 million cars off the road.
“We are also leading the charge when it comes to the transition to zero emission vehicles and today’s timely boost in funding builds on our world-leading £2.5 billion package to encourage drivers to make the switch.”
Currently, the UK is targeting bringing all greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050. Next year, the UK is due to host the United Nations COP26 Climate Change Conference.
The Prime Minister also announced today his ten-point plan for tackling climate change, which is to mobilise £12 billion of government investment to support up to 250,000 high skilled green jobs in the UK and encourage over three times as much private sector investment by 2030. The ten points are as follows;
- Offshore wind – producing enough offshore wind to power every home, quadrupling production to 40GW by 2030, supporting up to 60,000 jobs
- Hydrogen – aiming to generate 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for industry, transport, power and homes, and aiming to develop the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade.
- Nuclear – advancing nuclear as a clean energy source and developing small and advanced reactors, support up to 10,000 jobs
- Electric Vehicles – accelerating the transition to electric vehicles, upgrading infrastructure and support car manufacturing bases in the West Midlands, North East and North Wales
- Public transport, cycling and walking – investing in zero-emission public transport and encouraging more cycling and walking as methods of travel
- Jet Zero and greener maritime – supporting research projects for zero-emission planes and ships
- Homes and public buildings – making buildings greener and more energy-efficient, creating 50,00 jobs by 2030
- Carbon capture – creating technologies to capture and store harmful emissions away from the atmosphere
- Nature – protecting and restoring the natural environment, planting 30,000 hectares of trees every year
- Innovation and finance – making the City of London the global centre of green finance
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “Our green industrial revolution will be powered by the wind turbines of Scotland and the North East, propelled by the electric vehicles made in the Midlands and advanced by the latest technologies developed in Wales, so we can look ahead to a more prosperous, greener future.”
The independent Committee on Climate Change, which advises the government, has welcomed the plans, though The Green Party has described the ten-point plan as ‘woeful’ and has said ‘bigger, bolder climate action has to be a top priority’.
