The UK has thrown another £1 billion ($A1.9 billion) at its zero emissions transport strategy, which will ensure that sales of new petrol and diesel cars are banned by 2030, and zero emissions only allowed for all other forms of road transport by 2040.
The update was revealed in the UK government’s Net Zero Strategy, Building Back Greener, launched this week with great fanfare before the COP26 climate talks that it is about to host in Glasgow. Its main feature is a zero carbon grid by 2035, which will then be the key to obtaining further emission cuts from transport, buildings and industrial use.
Unlike his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison, UK prime minister Boris Johnson is not worried about his weekends being ruined by the shift to electric, or of tradies having their utes stolen.
“We can build back greener, without so much as a hair shirt in sight,” Johnson said.
“In 2050, we will still be driving cars, flying planes and heating our homes, but our cars will be electric gliding silently around our cities, our planes will be zero emission allowing us to fly guilt-free, and our homes will be heated by cheap reliable power drawn from the winds of the North Sea.”
The main points of the transport plan have already been revealed, but the update includes £620 million to support the roll out of charging and other necessary infrastructure, and an extra £350 million in incentives to support EV manufacturing, supply chains and technologies.
“Road transport is transformed through increasing use of zero emission vehicles, driven in part by ending the sale of new
petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030 and supported by increasing the share of trips taken by cycling, walking, and public transport,” the document says.
The idea of reducing car trips in UK’s car-clogged cities didn’t go down well with Australian Senator Matt Canavan, who has not given up on the Coalition’s electric car scare campaign.
The UK, however, will extend the electric only mandate to motor bikes, buses and heavy duty vehicles by 2040. By 2027, all government car and van vehicles will be zero emissions.
The charging infrastructure will focus on on-street residential charge points, making sure that all EV owners have ready access to a charing point even if they don’t have off-street parking, and there are plans to put thousands more zero emission cars and vans onto UK roads through a zero emission vehicle mandate.”
And it’s not just about cars. It is also seeking to increase the number of people in cars by 2030, and the net zero plan puts aside £2 billion for cycling and walking, “building first hundreds, then thousands of miles of segregated cycle lane and more low-traffic neighbourhoods with the aim that half of all journeys in towns and cities will be cycled or walked by 2030.”
As Johnson puts it: “Green is good. For years, going green was inextricably bound up with a sense that we have to sacrifice the things we love. But this strategy shows how we can build back greener, without so much as a hair shirt in sight.”
Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of The Driven, and also edits and founded the Renew Economy and One Step Off The Grid web sites. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years, is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, and owns a Tesla Model 3.