Phasing out diesel and petrol cars is a woefully tiny step towards cleaner air | Caroline Lucas
Even if the ban came in sooner, it would still fall short. Rather than tinkering with the transport system, we need to completely rethink how we travel
• Caroline Lucas is co-leader of the Green party
Today’s air pollution announcement from the Tories is the latest in a string of green-sounding policies from a government that had previously gone quiet on the environment. Sadly, like so many of their plans, scratch beneath the surface and the green all but disappears.
The ban on new diesel and petrol cars by 2040 is a step forward, but it really is a tiny one. By then hundreds of thousands of people will have died prematurely in the UK because of air pollution, after years of delay from the government on the issue. David Powell, of the New Economic Foundation, says it’s like “telling a bullied 10-year-old that you’ll definitely have given the bully detention by the time he’s 33”. The truth is that the government is actually behind the curve, with firms like Volvo saying that all of its new motors will be electric or hybrid after 2019. But the ban wouldn’t be enough, even if it were happening sooner. The government is still woefully unambitious in its plans to clean up our filthy air and combat climate change emissions from transport.
Related: The government’s air pollution plan is a beautiful smokescreen
Related: If this is the end of the car as we know it, we have the EU to thank | Jonathan Freedland
Source: Guardian Transport
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