Tractor Attack: Fairness in pricing traffic pollution and rising SUV emissions in Kensington and Chelsea and beyond.

With respect to greenhouse gases, it is no longer true that low income motorists are likely to be driving more polluting vehicles. Average CO2 emissions per kilometre (gCO2/km) from new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles are no longer falling at the UK and London levels; and they are rising in urban areas where large sports utility vehicles (SUVs) are most popular, such as Kensington & Chelsea. The annual reduction in the average CO2 emissions of new cars sold in the UK is now exclusively attributable to the rapidly growing market share of electric vehicles (EVs), and EV sales are expected to be the main source of future CO2 reductions from now on. The recent trend towards larger, heavier, more powerful cars such as SUVs means that on average, a car that was bought new in 2013 is likely to have lower CO2 emissions than a new ICE car bought in 2023. ICE cars that are seven years old in 2023 will, on average, have the lowest CO2 emissions per kilometre in the overall UK ICE car fleet