Do it. We're supposed to be world leaders. We need to actually lead.
Great to see Corbyn pressuring the Tories. If they don't support this it will just be another stain on their poor track record for environmental policies.
I agree we should do as much as we reasonably can to protect our own environment and keep it clean and after all its our living space, but what do we do about China and India? After all, we are a tiny drop in a giant ocean on the global scale.
The United Kingdom emits 5.7 t of CO₂ per capita per year which is larger than India (1.8 t of CO₂ / capita / year ) and is 2 tonnes behind China (7.7 t of CO₂ / capita / year). [Publications Office of the European Union]
Obviously these countries which have a much larger population and developing economy will in general, have higher emissions then the UK and yes, they do need to develop their own policies to bring down their own emissions, however I wouldn't exactly call the UK a "tiny drop".
I think a lot of the onus is also on people, the government aren't doing a terrible job with our energy mix. Our total energy consumption has been reducing slowly, dependence on coal is basically nil and fossil based fuels only accounted for 40% of our energy generation on average in 2018. Wind and solar continue to expand very quickly, making up 23% of our total generation Q4 of 2018. Which is up from just 16% Q4 of 2015. The north is slowly turning into a giant wind farm.
It would help if people were willing to change their lifestyle, opt for more fuel efficient vehicles etc. It doesn't really matter if the government tries to introduce a policy and nobody follows it. There were 38 million registered vehicles in 2018, which is half a car for every adult/child living in the UK. Public transportation is so much worse in the North, could be doing a much better job. But building mass transit systems is just so unpopular in practice.
we're probably 10-15 years behind schedule but better late than never
Of all the countries announcing bans we have the latest. Costa Rica in 2021, Norway in 2025, even fucking Scotland is doing it by 2032.
To be fair Costa Rica is tiny (about 1/10th population), Norway is also small with 1/10th the population of the UK and EV's account for 30% of all vehicle sales already, and Scotland also has a much smaller population. The more I think about it the more it seems like 2040 is barely achievable unless people really get behind EV's now.
The 3,500 cash incentive is nice, as well as the emphasis on company electric cars. I think the government really needs to start penalising the purchase of diesel/petrol vehicles, and raise vehicle tax significantly for new fossil-based cars.
2020s is unrealistic I'll grant you, but I don't think it should be as late as 2040. If India can pull off its slated 2030 date then we're not doing enough.
New fossil fuel vehicle sales should be banned within the next few years. The only way to push EV adoption properly is to kick the companies into gear, and the prospect of an imminent ban is the best way to do this imo.
A fair few years after EV adoption has become widespread, I hope they don't outright ban ICE cars but rather give them a special enthusiast/hobbyist (see: expensive) tax bracket. Sort of like how classic cars are now.
Continued maintenance of the last remaining ICEs will become prohibitively expensive unless for hobbyists willing to pile decent money into them, and personally I see no issue with that assuming EV adoption becomes the majority.
unfortunately, if we wanted to minimize climate change that would have been the minimal target
the fact that we're unironically saying it's an unrealistic goal shows how fuck up things are gonna go and how little our politicians actually care about future generations
He got it done
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48126677
Somewhat concerning that it doesn't have any legal teeth. I guess we'll see if things like a "zero waste economy within the next six months" are actually going to happen.
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