Britain will push back a ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles to 2035 from 2030, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, as he set out what he called a "new approach" to tackling climate change.
Sadly, the truth is that this amounts to a complete roll back on the Government's green policies, evidencing their lack of desire to be a world leader in Carbon Neutrality as well as a total lack of ambition. Call me a cynic but I can't help but conclude that this Government's motive for rolling back is less about the affordability of EVs and more about desperate tactics to wins public votes at the next general election. The targets set out by Boris Johnson, albeit ambitious, were achievable but would have required rapid and significant investment from the Government to succeed. Rishi simply doesn't want to spend the money. This latest U-turn from the PM has not made him many friends in the short term, with both Ford and Kia bosses being extremely outspoken about the Governments decision to kick the can further down the road. From what we have read in the press over the last few days since the news broke, it's certainly not the car manufacturers who want this.
There was plenty of pressure to renege on the UK targets, especially as this decision now conveniently brings the UK back inline with the softer targets set in Europe. Yet, in this case, blindly following the lead of the EU is not what is best for the long term.
The biggest concern here is not Electric Vehicle or heat pump affordability for the public, it is the frightening fact that we are complicit in the continued destruction of our planet, and we continue to accelerate its demise. What this "long term decision for a brighter future" does guarantee is a continued reliance on fossil fuels and the "famous five" giants who receive monster profits from our dependence. Rishi has took the unsurprisingly safe and conservative bet, aligning himself with the only industry that continues to support this reliance on carbon. Last year’s combined $200bn profit for the ‘big five’ oil and gas companies brings little hope of driving down emissions. Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP and TotalEnergies all revealed that last year was the most profitable in their respective histories.
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