In a welcome move, Richmond has extended it's variable CO2-based parking charges to all car parks and parking spaces in the London borough.
Charges will rise by 25% for vehicles producing more than 180g of CO2 per km, and reduced for the cleanest cars.
BBC News transport correspondent Tom Symonds said the move "is the most radical attempt so far to link parking charges to carbon emissions. "
In a recent RAC poll, drivers overwhelmingly favored higher penalties for the most polluting cars, while they also welcomed more incentives for less polluting cars.
Blake, for the Alliance
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
New video - Sindy - the 4x4 climate criminal
View our new video of Sindy - A Climate Criminal.
Many people will remember the UK version of the Barbie Doll. In this video, Sindy drives a pink Land Rover. Watch to see how she responds when she is confronted with facts about her 4x4.
Blake, for the Alliance
Many people will remember the UK version of the Barbie Doll. In this video, Sindy drives a pink Land Rover. Watch to see how she responds when she is confronted with facts about her 4x4.
Blake, for the Alliance
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Fivers for Drivers
Today, in a counter-intuitive stunt, members of the Alliance handed out free money to car drivers at a central London petrol station. Our 'Fivers for Drivers' campaign symbolises the money that car drivers would save if Geoff Hoon, the Transport Secretary, supported the EU's original CO2 emissions targets for new cars.
Activists wearing Geoff Hoon masks, holding a briefcase full of (fake) money, and waving wads of fivers enticed car drivers into the petrol station, where they explained how the forthcoming legislation could radically lower the emissions from their cars and the cost of their fuel bills. Once the drivers signed one of our specially mocked-up 'fiver' postcards, we handed over a crisp new five pound note. The 'fiver' postcards, featuring Geoff Hoon wearing a tiara, will be sent to the Transport Secretary to encourage him to support tough standards for new cars.
Recent research by the Alliance suggests that if car makers were on track to meet the original target (120g of CO2 per km by 2012) then car drivers in the UK could be saving a total of £382 million a year on fuel costs. More efficient and economic cars aren't just better for the environment, they also help to make real savings for consumers.
This action was the first outing for We Are Futureproof, a new umbrella organisation who are pushing for innovative, exciting and sustainable answers to the big questions of today, on transport and a range of other issues.
Blake Ludwig, Managing Director of We Are Futureproof, said: "Today we're giving drivers £5 each and in return asking them to make sure the Government plays its part in keeping the car manufacturers on track towards real progress and not opting for weaker targets."
See this news story on the Telegraph website for more details, and visit We Are Futureproof to download your own fiver to send to Geoff Hoon.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
London's Black Cabs May Go Electric
According to our friends at ETA, the iconic London black cab may soon go electric.
Chinese car maker Geely, which owns a large stake of taxi-manufacturer LTI vehicles, is currently developing its own plug-in hybrid and electric cars and is examining the feasibility of converting the diesel-engined cabs to run on battery power.
Apparently, a London TX4 taxi emits a whopping 226g CO2 per km, which is more than twice the amount produced by today’s most efficient diesel cars. As there are 20,000 black cabs in London, that makes a strong case for converting to electric power.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
British Government Tries to Water Down CO2 Targets
Our friends at Greenpeace EU passed on a leaked memo last week to the Guardian, which reveals that our ministers care more about protecting Land Rover and Jaguar and jobs in Germany than they do about action on climate change.
According to the story, "The government is lobbying to weaken new European laws to force car manufacturers to build cleaner vehicles, leaked documents have revealed.
The UK has already been criticised for campaigning to water down another key European commission environmental policy to generate one-fifth of energy from renewable sources.
Now a briefing document from the Department for Transport to MEPs urges them to support three amendments to the commission's proposal to limit emissions from new cars to 120g of carbon dioxide for every kilometre travelled by 2012.
The UK-supported changes include plans to phase in the new limit over three years; to extend the less difficult targets for small manufacturers to include more companies - including potentially Jaguar, Land Rover and Ferrari; and to allow "eco-innovations" which are not part of the formal emissions tests to be allowed towards the target. These might include solar roofs and more widespread use of sixth gears.
The briefing, seen by the Guardian, indicates support for similar proposals by the French and German governments and would mean it was all but certain they will be adopted by the council of ministers because the three countries and their allies control such a big chunk of votes, said Franziska Achterberg, European transport campaigner for Greenpeace.
The impact of phasing in the target would be for average emissions to be 154g/km in the first year, reducing towards the 120g target by 2015, said Achterberg. Critics also claim it would not be feasible for the commission to test the claims for emissions reductions for eco-innovations made by manufacturers, although the UK government proposals stress they should be "robust and measurable". The car industry has already been criticised for missing a previous voluntary agreement promise to cut emissions to 140g/km by the end of this year. Yesterday the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said average new car emissions had fallen to 158.6g/km in the UK, just above the Europe-wide figure last year.
"The problem is transport emissions are still rising; if we don't do something on cars and fuel this is not going to stop, so all the efforts to reduce emissions in other sectors will be undermined," added Achterberg. Last night the DfT said the proposed changes would not have a significant impact on emissions but would help manufacturers with long cycles between research and development on more efficient technology and new models, especially small companies with less flexibility to offset more polluting cars against cleaner models.
The UK was also going further than the commission by supporting a new limit of 100g/km in 2020, said a spokeswoman.
The SMMT said the car industry, which employs 850,000 people in the UK, was struggling to cope with falling sales. "It is very appropriate that today we do address the sustainability of the automotive industry, and perhaps remind ourselves that economic and social impacts are as important as environmental considerations," said Paul Everitt, the society's chief executive."
According to the story, "The government is lobbying to weaken new European laws to force car manufacturers to build cleaner vehicles, leaked documents have revealed.
The UK has already been criticised for campaigning to water down another key European commission environmental policy to generate one-fifth of energy from renewable sources.
Now a briefing document from the Department for Transport to MEPs urges them to support three amendments to the commission's proposal to limit emissions from new cars to 120g of carbon dioxide for every kilometre travelled by 2012.
The UK-supported changes include plans to phase in the new limit over three years; to extend the less difficult targets for small manufacturers to include more companies - including potentially Jaguar, Land Rover and Ferrari; and to allow "eco-innovations" which are not part of the formal emissions tests to be allowed towards the target. These might include solar roofs and more widespread use of sixth gears.
The briefing, seen by the Guardian, indicates support for similar proposals by the French and German governments and would mean it was all but certain they will be adopted by the council of ministers because the three countries and their allies control such a big chunk of votes, said Franziska Achterberg, European transport campaigner for Greenpeace.
The impact of phasing in the target would be for average emissions to be 154g/km in the first year, reducing towards the 120g target by 2015, said Achterberg. Critics also claim it would not be feasible for the commission to test the claims for emissions reductions for eco-innovations made by manufacturers, although the UK government proposals stress they should be "robust and measurable". The car industry has already been criticised for missing a previous voluntary agreement promise to cut emissions to 140g/km by the end of this year. Yesterday the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said average new car emissions had fallen to 158.6g/km in the UK, just above the Europe-wide figure last year.
"The problem is transport emissions are still rising; if we don't do something on cars and fuel this is not going to stop, so all the efforts to reduce emissions in other sectors will be undermined," added Achterberg. Last night the DfT said the proposed changes would not have a significant impact on emissions but would help manufacturers with long cycles between research and development on more efficient technology and new models, especially small companies with less flexibility to offset more polluting cars against cleaner models.
The UK was also going further than the commission by supporting a new limit of 100g/km in 2020, said a spokeswoman.
The SMMT said the car industry, which employs 850,000 people in the UK, was struggling to cope with falling sales. "It is very appropriate that today we do address the sustainability of the automotive industry, and perhaps remind ourselves that economic and social impacts are as important as environmental considerations," said Paul Everitt, the society's chief executive."
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