Sadiq Khan retreats from a Zero Emission Zone in London

In his 2018 Transport Strategy, the Mayor of London laid out his plans from getting the capital to net zero by 2050. On a graphic, titled the Zero Emission Road Transport Timeline, a schedule was presented that ultimately ends in 2050 with a London-wide Zero Emission Zone and zero emission road transport.

In order to reach those targets, a Central London emission zone was slated to take effect in 2025 but in the wake of the ULEZ expansion kerfuffle, he has distanced himself from those ambitions.

Following the launch of a central ZEZ, the original  plan was to follow the ULEZ pattern by rolling it out right across the capital, as described in Proposal 35: ‘The Mayor, through TfL and the boroughs, and working with Government, will seek to implement zero emission zones in town centres from 2020 and aim to deliver a zero emission zone in central London from 2025, as well as broader congestion reduction measures to facilitate the implementation of larger zero emission zones in inner London by 2040 and London-wide by 2050 at the latest.’

In confirming that he had now dropped that ambition, a spokesperson from the Mayor’s office explained that it would now focus on finding other ways to achieve the capital’s target for net zero emission.

In January this year, the mayor seemed to remain keen on a ZEZ, but was introducing the idea that the London boroughs may be the main drivers of it.

Replying to a question from Zack Polanski, he said: ‘Since my commitment to a central London ZEZ was made in my 2018 transport and environment strategies, I have since set an objective for London to be a net zero carbon city by 2030. TfL’s focus will now be on developing plans to deliver this, alongside supporting boroughs who wish to implement local ZEZs. The scope of any update to the ZEZ guidance document is therefore under review.’