LONDON:Britain will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2030, five years earlier than previously planned, as part of what Prime Minister Boris Johnson is casting as a “green revolution” to cut emissions to net zero by 2050.
Johnson, who is grappling with Europe’s most deadly Covid-19 crisis, Brexit trade negotiations and the departure of his most senior adviser, wants to underscore his green credentials as part of what he hopes will be a reset for his government.
The plan offers 582 million pounds to those buying zero or ultra-low emission vehicles.
200 million pounds will create industrial clusters mustering technology to capture, store and use CO2 emissions by mid-2020.
Another two hubs are projected by 2030, taking the total investment to 1 billion pounds.
“Now is the time to plan for a green recovery with high-skilled jobs that give people the satisfaction of knowing they are helping to make the country cleaner, greener and more beautiful,” Johnson said in a column published in the Financial Times on Tuesday. Britain last year became the first G7 country to set in law a net-zero emission target by 2050, which will require wholesale changes in the way Britons travel, use energy and eat.
The plan would mobilise 12 billion pounds ($16 billion) of the government money, with as much as three times that amount coming from the private sector, and create and support 2,50,000 highly skilled green jobs by 2030, Johnson said.
