UK government has reversed its halting of combustion engine vehicle sales from 2030 to 2035. Image: Mercedes-Benz
Britain will soften policies aimed at achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and instead pursue a “pragmatic” approach to hitting the target, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Wednesday.
“We can adopt a more pragmatic, proportionate and realistic approach to meeting net zero,” Sunak told a news conference, saying a ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars would be pushed back from 2030 to 2035.
That would bring it in line with countries such as France and Germany, he said.
A general election is expected next year and Sunak’s Conservative Party is trailing in the polls behind the Labour opposition amid a cost-of-living crisis that has seen food and housing costs spiral.
The narrow win by a Conservative candidate in a west London by-election in July, largely put down to a campaign against the expansion of a vehicle pollution toll zone in the capital by Labour mayor Sadiq Khan, triggered calls within the party to rethink climate commitments.
Previous prime minister Boris Johnson set a 2030 deadline for the ban on selling petrol and diesel cars, but Sunak announced Wednesday that the date was being pushed back.
“You’ll still be able to buy petrol and diesel cars and vans until 2035, even after that you’ll still be able to buy and sell them second-hand,” he said.
“We’re aligning our approach with countries like Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Australia, Canada, Sweden, and US states such as California, New York and Massachusetts,” he added.
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Businesses in the UK have, however, reacted with anger denouncing the uncertainty the decision to backtrack would cause.
“Our business needs three things from the UK government: ambition, commitment and consistency,” said Ford UK chief Lisa Brankin.
A relaxation of the 2030 target would “undermine all three”, she added.
The sector is already facing rising costs due to the country’s cost of living crisis, Brexit custom duties and infrastructure for the production of electric vehicles which is still in its infancy.
The British automotive sector lobby, the SMMT, denounced “confusion and uncertainty”.
The SMMT said that to make net zero a reality “consumers must want to make the switch” to electric vehicles.
This “requires from government a clear, consistent message, attractive incentives and charging infrastructure that gives confidence rather than anxiety”, said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes.
He said the automotive sector was spending billions of pounds on new electric vehicles.
The government has been been striving for years to attract investment in electric battery factories, crucial for the future of the sector and the creation of UK manufacturing “hubs”.
As a result, the British government is largely subsidising Tata’s electric battery factory in the UK, a £4-billion project unveiled to great fanfare this summer.
The amount injected by Downing Street was not revealed, but according to a report in the Financial Times Tata had asked for half a billion pounds.
A few days ago, Germany’s BMW announced £600-million for the electrification of Minis in the UK, with substantial investment from the British state.
Green Party MP Caroline Lucas called the move “economically illiterate, historically inaccurate and environmentally bone-headed” while Ed Miliband, Labour’s spokesman for energy, said it was a “complete farce from a Tory government that literally does not know what they are doing day to day.”
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