Petrol and diesel cars may not be banned by 2040 after all, gov admits

Ministers backtrack on 2040 ban of petrol and diesel new car sales instead characterising the target as a "mission"

Petrol and diesel cars may not be banned by 2040 after all, gov admits
Image: Bigstock.

The government is poised to publish its long-awaited Road to Zero strategy detailing how it plans to decarbonise road transport with a watered-down commitment to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2040, the Financial Times has reported.

Business minister, Richard Harrington has now denied that it was the government’s intention to completely cut exhaust emissions by 2040.

He said: “We are technologically neutral.

“It could be that some real brain doc at one of the companies develops a kind of internal combustion engine that has zero-emissions tailpipes.

“I am not a scientist.

“We know our objective.

“It could be that existing technology could be adapted.

“I don’t know.”

Related: Industry reacts to petrol and diesel ban 

Richard Bruce, a senior official at the Department of Transport, said: “The expectations that the vast majority, will be 100 per cent zero emissions.

“There may be scope in certain niche areas for internal combustion engines to persist if they are much more efficient.”

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