No new diesel or gasoline heavy trucks will be sold after 2040 as part of a government plan to decarbonise the transport sector, the biggest contributor to UK greenhouse gas emissions.
The ad was condemned by the Road Haulage Association.
Its chief executive Rod McKenzie told Sky News that alternative technologies like hydrogen and electricity are either too expensive or do not provide sufficient autonomy, and there needs to be more certainty for such a critical industry.
He said: “This proposal is unrealistic. Alternative heavyweights do not yet exist.
“We don’t know when they’re going to exist, and we don’t know how much they’ll cost, and we don’t know what a transition will look like.
“So this is a blue sky thought well ahead of the reality of real life.
“For many transportation companies, there are great fears about the cost of new vehicles and a collapse in the resale value of existing vehicles.”
But the UK director of the Europe-wide Green Transport campaign group Transport & Environment, Greg Archer, stressed the importance of ambition.
He said: “This plan is an important step in the transition to a more sustainable UK transport system.
“The decision to use only zero-emission road vehicles – including trucks – by 2050 is the best in the world and will significantly reduce Britain’s climate impact and improve the air we breathe. “
The Department for Transport’s greenprint to help the UK achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 includes several new announcements, including a pledge to reduce domestic aviation emissions to net zero by 2040, ten years earlier than previously promised.
The plane is the most carbon-intensive form of transport
It also includes a commitment to zero the government fleet of around 40,000 cars and vans by 2027, three years ahead of schedule, as well as a proposal to ensure home charging points newly installed for electric vehicles are …
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-07-13 22:52:00
