London to get tough in emissions clean up
LONDON’S MOTORISTS HAVE been warned that they face “aggressive action” and that “diesel is being targeted” as Transport for London (TFL) and the city’s mayor set out a strategy to reduce vehicle emissions to zero by 2050.
The long-term goal of a zero-emissions London is the headline target in the mayor’s recently published Transport Strategy, which is open to consultation until October.
Speaking at the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership 2017 conference in London, Shirley Rodrigues, deputy mayor for environment and energy, warned that cleaning up London’s air required “aggressive action”.
She said: “Business as usual is not possible. We want to avoid making the mistakes of the past and we must tackle the challenge together.”
Owners of older diesels are already in line to be hit by a new ‘Toxicity Charge’, due to be introduced in October and intended to penalise drivers of pre-2006 diesels in the centre of London with a new levy on top of the congestion charge.
“This will be the toughest emissions standard of any major city,” claimed Rodrigues. “We are targeting diesel because 90% of NOX emissions come from road transport.”
However, many drivers of diesel cars feel that they bought the vehicles in good faith, with the encouragement of successive governments.
“Government policy to encourage diesel is regrettable,” Rodrigues said.
Looking forward more than 30 years to 2050, she said: “For all vehicles that remain, we will take London’s entire road transport fleet to zero carbon by 2050.”
The 2050 date aligns with central government targets that all new vehicles should be zero-emissions by 2050.
TFL has juggled its budgets to create an £807 million transport fund, largely to clean up the bus fleet and also retrofit NOX filters to older buses.
However, some sources suggest that retro-fit NOX filters struggle to function effectively when operating at the temperatures that arise in stop-start traffic.
TFL said that it will buy only hybrid double-deckers from next year onwards and it also plans a zero-emissions bus fleet from 2037.
This year is the last in which diesel-powered taxis can be registered in London. From next year, a new fleet of British-built range-extender hybrids will start replacing the traditional black cab.