PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Motor Vehicles: Carbon Emissions (6 March 2018)

The Government has announced an end to the sale of all new conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2040, and a key element of the Future of Mobility Grand Challenge in the Industrial strategy is our long term mission to see every new car and van being effectively zero emission by 2040. The Department will provide more details shortly on the actions we are taking to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollution from road vehicles dramatically, and to bring about our ambition for a future where every road vehicle has zero emissions at the tailpipe.

For diesel cars and vans the relative efficiency of diesel engines compared with petrol engines results in improved fuel economy and lower greenhouse gas emissions per kilometre than from petrol equivalents. Whilst real-world emissions of nitrogen dioxide from current diesel cars and vans are at present typically substantially higher than their petrol equivalents, the UK has led the calls for action at a European level to ensure that manufacturers now have to limit emissions of nitrogen dioxide in a wide range of real-world driving conditions, and not just against laboratory test limits.