The sale of all diesel lorries will be banned from 2040 as part of a major Government plan to cut carbon emissions from the transport sector.
The sale of smaller diesel heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) will be banned from 2035, with ones weighing more than 26 tonnes prohibited five years later.
The delayed Transport Decarbonisation Plan includes several consultations aimed at cutting transport pollution to help the UK reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
In November last year, the Prime Minister brought forward the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040 to 2030. The ban will apply to new hybrid cars and vans from 2035.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said decarbonisation of transport is vital to ensure the sector ‘shapes quality of life and the economy in ways that are good’.
He went on: ‘It’s not about stopping people doing things – it’s about doing the same things differently. We will still fly on holiday, but in more efficient aircraft, using sustainable fuel. We will still drive, but increasingly in zero-emission cars.’
A spokesman for trade body the Road Haulage Association said it ‘supports the goal’ of reducing pollution from lorries but claimed ‘the means of getting there are unrealistic’.
He added: ‘These alternative HGVs don’t yet exist. We don’t know when they will and it’s not clear what any transition will look like.
‘So this is a blue-skies aspiration ahead of real-life reality.’
The plan also sets out how the Government will boost public transport and raise support for active travel.
There is a pledge to create a net zero emission rail network by 2050 and reach net zero emissions from domestic aviation by 2040.
The Department for Transport claimed its plan is a ‘credible pathway’ for the transport sector to reach net zero by 2050.
Such efforts will be a key theme of the climate summit in Glasgow in November.
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