Businesses should be mandated to switch their petrol and diesel vehicle fleet to electric vehicles by 2030 in a bid to drive down transport carbon emissions.

SSE has written to the Department of Transport urging them to legislate for the full decarbonisation of cars and vans across all corporate fleets in the UK by 2030.

It follows the business' call to bring forward the end date for the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans to 2030, and its own commitment to decarbonise 3,500 vehicles from its own fleet by 2030 through the Climate Group's EV100 campaign.

In the letter Alistair Phillips-Davies, SSE Chief Executive, says:

'We believe commitments from Government on corporate fleets will be important in helping to reduce the costs of decarbonising fleets and addressing potential barriers, thereby encouraging other companies to follow the lead set by SSE.

Importantly, making this commitment on corporate fleet decarbonisation ahead of COP26 will demonstrate UK leadership and help encourage similar commitments from other countries.

Given that our fleet operates in some of the most remote locations across Great Britain, including the highlands and islands of Scotland, we believe the full decarbonisation of cars and vans across all corporate fleets in the UK is achievable within a decade.'

Alistair Phillips-Davies, SSE Chief Executive,Letter to Department of Transport

Challenges remain in charging infrastructure and availability of vehicles but Government can accelerate investment in this area with a clear deadline stopping the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles and getting businesses to make the first move.

Transport emits the most carbon emissions in the UK, accounting for around a quarter of emissions, with no reduction at all for the last thirty years.

Over half of new vehicles purchased are intended for corporate fleets so their decisions reverberate through the wider car market. If UK businesses were to commit to fully switching their fleets to EV's by 2030 around 1.5 million vehicles could be switched to EVs.

SSE joined the EV100 initiative in 2019 pledging to electrify its fleet of vehicles by 2030. It is one of only 27 UK business to pledge to do so.

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SSE plc published this content on 15 October 2020 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 15 October 2020 09:39:06 UTC