The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has underlined a brave new strategy to guide the UK’s capital towards a zero-emissions future.
Khan has declared London’s current air pollution problem as a ‘serious public health crisis’ and that the nation is facing a ‘climate emergency’.
The electric car revolution is well underway in the UK, with more and more motorists opting for the zero-emissions choice, but the current infrastructure needs serious improvement if it is to meet demand. There is no better illustration of this problem than London, where the infrastructure must expand by 2,300 per cent to move from 2,100 public plug-in points today, to 50,000 charge points by 2025.
In a wide-ranging statement, Khan has embraced the prospect of London being a global leader in zero-emissions.
He said: “London's air is so dirty and polluted that it amounts to nothing less than a serious public health crisis.
“It breaches legal limits and blights the lives of Londoners, resulting in thousands of premature deaths every year.
“We are also facing a climate emergency that threatens the long-term security and well-being of every Londoner.
“We need to reject the fossil fuels of the past and embrace an electric revolution in London's transport.
“To truly transform the quality of our air and to tackle the climate crisis London must move away from petrol and diesel cars, with their catastrophic impact on the environment, and towards zero- emission vehicles.
“I want London to lead the world in this ambition, with all new cars and vans on London roads to meeting these standards by 2030, not 2040 as the government is proposing.”