It’s a bit like plastic bags, the current bête noir. Say you don’t want a plastic bag and you get some self-satisfaction brownie points.
In actual fact, you have done nothing on the global scale. However, it stops the world doing public “challenges” with the pledged funds generally not arriving or being used for other expenses.
Diesel fuel is a bit like that. The policy makers who are chauffeured around in petrol fueled luxury cars could not care less about what banning diesel might do to the family motorist hidden under the guise of the global economy.
As a flow-on from VW’s ‘Dieselgate’ scandal, the green groups are making it look as if all diesel engines are evil polluters. When you examine the fact that all VW did was to make engines run lean at idle which kept the emissions ‘clean’.
It has prompted calls for vehicle bans, tax penalties, and scrappage schemes. A knee-jerk result!
The Society of Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said that, on average, modern diesel vans use around 50 percent less fuel than petrols, which means lower fuel bills for operators and a knock-on benefit for consumers and taxpayers.
Mike Hawes, the SMMT’s chief executive said, “Commercial vehicles play an essential but often overlooked role in keeping Britain functioning, performing jobs and transporting vital goods and services that we all rely on every day.
“This sector has never been so important to the UK economy – and to British jobs – and diesel’s role in powering these vital vehicles should not be downplayed. Nearly all our commercial vehicles are driven by diesel.”
But the vocal green group groups said it was clear all diesel engines must be phased out.
However, the petrol groups have a much greater threat than ‘dirty’ diesels, and that is electric cars. Over the past five years, the number of manufacturers offering an electric car has more than trebled, and the number of electric cars has grown exponentially.
The EV30@30 Scenario reflects a policy case characterized by a wider adoption of EVs, in line with the EV30@30 campaign if it were to be applied at a global scale. The EV30@30 campaign, launched at the Eighth Clean Energy Ministerial in 2017, set the collective aspirational goal for all EVI members of a 30% market share for electric vehicles in the total of all vehicles (except two-wheelers) by 2030.
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