Support clean transport to ensure clean air

Our verdict

• This is a promise to take steps to promote “clean transport”, meaning modes of transport that can help reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions and levels of pollution in the air. 
• In March 2020, the government published ‘Decarbonising Transport’, a document it described as “the first step to developing…policy proposals and a coordinated plan…”, and in July and August 2020 a public consultation was held to gather ideas for the creation of the plan. In March 2021, the government published its response to a consultation on ending the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars, and committed to bringing forward the phase out date by five years to 2030.
• The December 2020 Energy white paper announced that the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, initially promised for Autumn 2020, had been rescheduled for spring 2021. In a Commons debate on 16 June 2021, the government said it could not provide a date but it does “intend to publish soon”. Planning is clearly under way and the acceleration of plans to ban high-emission cars is further evidence of a commitment to fulfilling this pledge, so for now this policy is ‘in progress’.