Through the ZEV Community’s ‘Taking action on zero emission vehicles’ series, we’ve shone a spotlight on the UK government’s commitments and ambition on ZEVs.
The series aims to profile the ZEV policies, targets, and achievements of governments from around the world.
The UK has been driving the transition to zero emission vehicles and developing innovative ZEV infrastructure for over a decade. It’s accelerating this transition to eliminate carbon emissions from road transport, improve air quality and boost green jobs.
The UK is going further and faster to decarbonise transport and is also playing a leading role in supporting international collaboration to speed up the decarbonisation of road transport, through establishing and chairing the COP26 ZEV Transition Council.
Earlier this year, the government’s Department for Transport published a world-first ‘greenprint’ to decarbonise all modes of domestic transport by 2050.
Amongst its current commitments are:
- 100% zero emission at the tailpipe for the government's car and van fleet by 2027
- 100% of new petrol and diesel car and van sales will be zero emissions by 2030
- 100% of new cars and vans to be fully zero emission at the tailpipe by 2035
However, to fully achieve its decarbonisation vision, further actions include:
- Launching a consultation on the phase-out of the sale of new diesel and petrol heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) by 2040.
- Partnering with British Standards Institution and Motability, to provide industry with guidance on how to make individual chargepoints more accessible to disabled EV users.
- Introducing regulations for new residential / non-residential buildings to require charge points.
- Committing to laying legislation in Autumn 2021 mandating that private chargepoints sold in Great Britain must be smart and meet minimum device-level requirements.
To be published later this year, an EV Charging Infrastructure Strategy will set out a vision for infrastructure rollout as well as the government’s approach to addressing remaining market failures, enabling sufficient infrastructure provision at the pace required, and ensuring that consumers needs are met.
As we fast approach COP26 in November, the UK is determined to use this platform to drive greater international collaboration and raise global climate ambitions to achieve the transformational change required by the Paris Agreement. For road transport this means accelerating the pace of the global transition so that all new cars and vans are zero emission by 2040, or sooner for leading markets.
Currently, the transport sector is the largest contribution to emissions in the UK, but, as a result of the government’s plan to decarbonise the transport sector, it’s paving the way to bring cleaner air, healthier communities and tens of thousands of new green jobs.
The ZEV Community brings together all levels of governments to share and learn about exciting ZEV (zero emission vehicle) initiatives taking place around the world. It’s co-hosted by the Under2 Coalition and the ZEV Alliance, in partnership with C40 Cities and the U.S. Climate Alliance and is supported by the Scottish Government and the ClimateWorks Foundation.