UK to ban petrol, diesel cars by 2030

LONDON (AA) – The sale of new petrol and diesel cars will be banned in the UK after 2030, the British government has announced.

The ban is part of a plan to tackle climate change, which also includes creating offshore wind-powered plants and using hydrogen for heating.

“We will use science to rout the virus, and we must use the same extraordinary powers of invention to repair the economic damage from Covid-19, and to build back better,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote in an article for the Financial Times (FT).

“Now is the time to plan for a green recovery with high-skilled jobs that give people the satisfaction of knowing they are helping make the country cleaner, greener and more beautiful.”

Revealing a 10-point plan, Johnson said it will “mobilise £12bn of government investment, and potentially three times as much from the private sector, to create and support up to 250,000 green jobs.”

Johnson’s plan includes harnessing wind energy to power homes, generating 5 gigawatts of low carbon hydrogen production capacity and developing new generation of reactors to promote nuclear energy as a clean source.

The plan aims to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, making cycling and walking more attractive, turning buildings greener, warmer and more energy efficient.

Johnson’s plan also includes technology to capture and store harmful carbon emission to remove 10 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2030, to plant 30,000 hectares of trees every year and developing technologies needed for the plan, and making London the global centre of green finance.

“This plan can be a global template for delivering net zero emissions in ways that create jobs and preserve our lifestyles,” Johnson wrote.

He said he would “meet UK businesses to discuss their contribution” on Wednesday.

“We plan to provide clear timetables for the clean energy we will procure, details of the regulations we will change, and the carbon prices that we will put on emissions.”

He said he will “establish Task Force Net Zero committed to reaching net zero by 2050, and through next year’s COP26 summit we will urge countries and companies around the world to join us in delivering net zero globally.”

“Green and growth can go hand-in-hand. So let us meet the most enduring threat to our planet with one of the most innovative and ambitious programmes of job-creation we have known.”