Why are Britain's streets still so polluted? Because the car industry dinosaurs do what they like, and politicians let them | George Monbiot
It argues that a transition would threaten jobs, or damage the national interest, or harm poor people, while what it really fears is the cost of retooling its plants or developing new protocols.
Key points
- An industry puts tremendous effort into resisting change: lobbying governments, mobilising the media, pouring money into junktanks.
- George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
- Now the same dynamic is driving the UK’s crisis over the transition to electric vehicles (EVs).
The result is that, as the global climate summit, Cop31, begins, it looks as if our gift to the world will be a major, predictable and entirely avoidable increase in the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.
This is what triggered the Dutch nitrate crisis, and the UK’s repeated “emergency” exemptions from the ban on a devastating class of pesticides.
Additional details
- Then, when the inevitable cliff edge approaches, it whines that change is coming too soon.
- For reasons beyond its control, it isn’t ready, so the government must delay its plans.
- The transition to electric vehicles should be moving apace, but it is not.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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