Southwest London’s CO2-based parking permits
I love these ideas. A municipal council in southwest London is proposing a parking permits scheme that would reward people driving low-CO2 vehicles and, well, punish those who drive gas-guzzling monsters. Costs range from no charge to a 200-per-cent increase over the current rate based on how many grams of CO2 are released by a vehicle per kilometre driven. Smart Cars, Honda Insights and Toyota Priuses would be examples of cars on the low end of the scale, while Porche 911s, Range Rovers and Jaguar X types would be on the high end.
The proposal goes before the council on Nov. 6 and the plan could be implemented before year’s end. “The proposals, if implemented, will be a national first and are part of the administration’s commitment to put sustainability at the heart of everything it does,” according to a council news release.
So, I wonder if there’s a municipality in Canada that has the chutzpah to do the same kind of thing here. I’d love to be the first to hear about it. Hat tip to the Green Car Congress for point this out.
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
October 27th, 2006 at 6:55 am
So am I right in thinking that this is (one of) the first such measures to actually justifiy itself solely on carbon emmissions, rather than mixing it in with congestion, smog, etc?
If so, then it’s a great symbolic act–a major step in setting the true cost of burning fossil fuels. Kyoto does that, kind of, sort of, but the emissions trading scheme is a long way away from people’s lifestyle decisions.
What’s surprising to me is the muted reaction to this proposal herre in the UK. Some people are of course ecstatic, but more interestingly, we haven’t seen the usual suspects (SUV drivers) spitting blood over this one. Most ordinary drivers (ie people who may soon be hit with one of these) seen perfectly resigned to the idea, if not exactly comfortable.
We’ve talked about Climate Change, emissions reductions, and the true cost of CO2 for a long time. The public are ready for this kind of leadership. In the UK, anyway.