The United Kingdom unveiled its roadmap for greening transport on Wednesday, with the 2040 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel trucks, and the arrival in the skies of clean planes if technology allows.
The Ministry of Transport explains in a press release that its goal is for all transport to be carbon neutral by 2050, as provided by law for the entire country.
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson had already decided to advance to 2030, against 2040 previously planned, the ban on the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars and vans. From now on, gasoline and diesel trucks of more than 26 tons will be banned from 2040. For those weighing between 3.5 and 26 tons, it will be in 2035. In addition, the fleet of 40,000 cars and vans of the services of the government will be fully electric by 2027, three years ahead of schedule.
For air transport, the government has set itself the goal of achieving carbon neutrality for domestic flights and all airports in England by 2040, and for international flights by 2050. “
It's a big challenge, it doesn't 'there is no doubt about it
, warned Transport Minister Grant Shapps on Sky News.
"
These are the most profound changes we have ever seen in our transportation network
," he said.
Increase the number of recharging stations
The United Kingdom's environmental commitments are all the more scrutinized as the country will organize the climate conference, COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland in November.
The employers' organization CBI welcomed the measures, but warned that they must be "
accompanied by credible plans to accelerate the development of clean technologies such as hydrogen and environmentally friendly aviation fuels
".
Matthew Fell, one of its leaders, added that the country needs to develop large-scale infrastructure for charging points for electric vehicles.
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More critically, Greenpeace regrets that the government's vision “
still seems limited to road transport
”. On aviation, achieving the objectives "
thanks only to technological advances is a very big bet
", according to Doug Parr, an official of the NGO. "
Everyone will be happy if this happens, but we need a mechanism to reduce emissions if these advances do not materialize
," he said.
