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Rishi Sunak has condemned the UK public to release 10 million additional tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. Why are we not seizing this opportunity?
Comment from Nick Woolley, CEO of ev.energy:
“Yesterday, Rishi Sunak condemned the UK public to release a minimum of 10 million additional metric tonnes of carbon into our atmosphere with the announcement of the ICE ban pushback [figure 1].
“Extending the life of fossil fuels in vehicles by 5 years is not the answer. Scrapping the 2030 target puts more money in the coffers of oil companies and increases costs for the motoring public.
“54% of the UK public want to switch to an electric car before the 2030 ban - so ‘people’s consent’ is not the issue, nor is the grid.
“Yesterday was the day that the grid ran with a new green record, only 14.5% of generation coming from gas,. And, we’ll soon see gas disappear, becoming 100% green. So why are we not seizing this opportunity to fuel transport with green electrons?
“EVs help us accelerate faster, integrating more renewable energy. They can be used as flexible demand, matching the intermittencies of wind and solar. Powering EVs with wind and solar is also cheap, saving drivers hundreds of pounds a year, and if employed at scale, would help save an additional 2 million metric tonnes of carbon being released into the atmosphere.
“We need the Government to keep firm on their commitments, We need the Government to get behind accelerating the transition. Banning new sales by 2030 isn’t fast enough, and pushing it to 2035 is embarrassing. I want my kids to grow up in a society without air pollution, and where we are tempering the effects of climate change.
"The industry is ready, the public are ready. Humanity is amazing when singularly focussed on one goal: make that goal decarbonising as rapidly as possible, not prolonging the interests of dangerous oil and gas companies.
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