Large Goods Vehicles: Air Pollution

(asked on 17th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had discussions with representatives of the road haulage sector on reduce the effect of that sector on air pollution.


Answered by
Rachel Maclean Portrait
Rachel Maclean
This question was answered on 25th November 2020

The Government is committed to improving air quality and the freight sector has a significant role to play in this. The Government encourages more sustainable alternatives to road haulage where practical, including e-cargo bikes and electric vehicles for urban deliveries and mode shift to rail freight.

The implementation of Clean Air Zones will affect the use of haulage vehicles substantially in some cases.

There are official level discussions with representatives of the road haulage industry about the implementation of existing policies and the development of further policy related to road freight and pollution.

Support is being provided by local authorities and through the Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme to help businesses upgrade to newer vehicles and achieve compliance with NO2 limits where Clean Air Zones restrict access for older HGVs. We are also consulting on options for improving the productivity of existing fleets, for example through the use of longer semi-trailers which have reduced the number of HGV journeys and the associated emissions.

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