LONDON: The UK must reform its tax regime for the most polluting cars or risk being left in the slow lane by Europe’s green vehicle leaders, a campaign group has warned.A new report by campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E) outlined that tax changes in 2002 drove a steady reduction in new car CO2 emissions to just above the EU average, but this progress had stalled.
Last year, the UK recorded 128.3 grams of CO2 per kilometre, compared to 127g/km across the EU, but T&E says its “below average” annual improvement of 3.5 per cent ranks it twelfth among EU member states and well behind frontrunner the Netherlands, which recorded 109.1g/km and boasts 5.3 per cent of electric vehicles in its national fleet. The UK is actually closer to laggard Germany, on 136.1g/CO2, and Poland, with 138.1g/CO2, than it is to the top spot.From a UK perspective, we’ve seen no real developments to the taxation framework for a number of years,” Greg Archer, clean vehicles manager at T&E, told BusinessGreen. “The Treasury needs to look at what it’s trying to do in supporting markets for low-carbon vehicles. The government makes strong statements, saying it is supporting low-carbon vehicles, but in reality it has pretty moderate policies compared to other European countries that are driving the market.”The UK does take CO2 emissions into account in levying vehicle excise duty (VED), commonly known as road tax, with electric cars and some hybrids wholly exempt. It also offers subsidies of up to £5,000 off the cost of a new electric car and up to £8,000 for electric vans, but so far these vehicles make up only 0.2 per cent of the UK’s fleet.
