Government commits to 2050 target for zero emission vehicles
Almost all cars in Britain are expected to be zero emission by 2050, the UK Government agreed at the recent climate summit in Paris, Fleet News reports.
The UK as well as Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and California, signed a new commitment to cleaner motoring at the summit. As part of the agreement, all new passenger vehicles are expected to be zero emission by 2050.
"The UK already has the largest market for ultra-low emission vehicles in the EU, and the fourth largest in the world, and today's pledge reaffirms our commitment to ensuring almost every car and van is a zero emission vehicle by 2050," commented UK transport minister Andrew Jones.More than £600 million is being spent by the UK Government between 2015 and 2020 to support manufacturing of ultra-low emission vehicles in Britain and help make them more affordable, he added.
"By leading international efforts on this issue, we are playing our part in helping achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions of more than 1 billion tonnes per year across the world by 2050."
The UK is part of the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Alliance, which comprises 13 countries in total, whose aim is to increase the uptake of greener vehicles globally.
However Philippa Oldham, head of transport and manufacturing at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, met news of the zero emissions target with caution. "It is imperative that this is followed by a clear and enforceable roadmap on how it is going to be achieved," she said.
"It is critical that we look at the infrastructure supporting these vehicles as those that use electricity will need to have zero carbon electricity to charge them up to be truly carbon neutral."
We reported recently that some of the UK's electricity networks may struggle to cope with increased demand due to domestic charging of electronic vehicles.
