Prof Julia King raises idea of 'feebates' to cut car CO2
Mon 12 November 2007
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Professor Julia King, whose interim report on de-carbonising road transport was published alongside the Pre-Budget, has raised the suggestion that subsidies towards the purchase of low carbon cars paid for out of taxes on 'gas guzzlers' could help to encourage the uptake of more efficient cars. Professor King floated the suggestion, which was picked up widely by the media, at a LowCVP/Waterfront conference on November 7: 'Promoting Low Carbon Vehicles'.
On other tax policies, Professor King said that she is also looking at increasing the upper bands of Vehicle Excise Duty and of strengthening the signals for company car buyers to choose low carbon vehicles.
In terms of technical choices, Prof King said that she believes the use of electric battery power for cars may be a better option for reducing CO2 than trying to introduce vehicles powered by hydrogen allied with fuel cells.
A newspaper article in The Times, based on Prof King's presentation at the conference was the front page lead a few days after the LowCVP-initiated event. The Times article stimulated coverage in many other areas of the media.
Michael Roberts, Director of Business Environment at the CBI, was the other keynote speaker at the conference on the Commission for Integrated Transport's recent report: 'Transport and Climate Change'.
Representatives of ACEA, IEEP, AEA Technology, DfT, Friends of the Earth, TfL and other organisations also spoke at the event which was chaired by Graham Smith (LowCVP Chair) and Greg Archer (Director).
Details of the presentations will shortly appear on the LowCVP website. (Resources Library/Presentations page).
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