MPs call on government to do more to promote low emission vehicles

The government needs to do more to increase the use of ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs) in the UK, according to a report from the Environmental Audit Committee.

The report called on the Department for Transport (DfT) to set out a clear strategy to increase the use of ULEVs, reduce air pollution and deal with the Volkswagen ‘dieselgate’ scandal.

Current projections show the government will miss the target for ULEVs to make up nine per cent of all new car and van sales by 2020 and the report criticises the government for ‘weakening the way all Departments report against sustainability’.

The Committee also called for local government to be given a clearer remit to invest in sustainable transport, with an aim to increase both public and private electric vehicle (EV) use.

In addition to increasing the number of ULEVs, the report also raises concerns about the speed at which Volkswagen has begun recalls after it was found to have cheated emissions tests with a defeat device and recommends that the Competition and Markets Authority, the Serious Fraud Office and the Transport Secretary expedite their investigations into the carmaker to determine whether legal action can be taken against it.

Mary Creagh, chair of the Committee, said: "The uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles like electric cars, is too low to meet the UK's climate change targets at the lowest cost to the public. Air quality targets that were supposed to be met in 2010 won't be hit until 2020 at the earliest. And it's been almost a year since we discovered VW had fitted cars with cheat devices, but government has still to decide what action to take against the company.”

She added: ”We need nine per cent of all new cars to be ultra-low emission vehicles by 2020 if we're going to meet our climate change targets at the lowest cost to the public. But the Department's forecasts show it will get only around half way to this target. This failure risks making it more expensive to meet our long term carbon reduction targets. The Department should also aim for almost two thirds of new cars and vans to be ultra-low emission vehicles by 2030. With no strategy, we have no confidence that The DfT will meet this target."

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