Traffic jam
Breaking the link between transport and oil is vital if we are to avert catastrophic climate change. Pollution from petrol and diesel is the fastest growing cause of climate change, and the increase in storms and flooding from Britain to Mozambique.
But don't despair just yet - there are alternatives to oil. Bio-diesel, made from sunflowers and rapeseed can be put in your tank today. Other green fuels like hydrogen and green electricity could be powering your next car. If renewable energy is used to produce the hydrogen and charge the electric vehicles, the only emissions are water!
So what are we waiting for? Why is so little being done to promote the real green alternatives?
The oil companies are holding back the growth of real green fuels in the UK because they won't sell them on their forecourts. The ultra low sulphur petrol and diesel that some now supply, along with unleaded petrol, are far from green. They are still made from oil and therefore do nothing to protect the climate. These oil companies make massive profits at the expense of the climate and should invest in genuinely green fuels like bio-diesel, hydrogen and green electricity, giving drivers a choice.
Despite grand promises, the Government is just as much to blame for the lack of choice. Gordon Brown cut the tax on bio-diesel by 20p a litre in the March 2001 Budget, but this won't come into force until April 2002, and is still not sufficient to get the bio-diesel industry off the ground in this country.
Meanwhile, he has cut the tax on the oil based petrol and diesel that wrecks the climate. The government should be investing in hydrogen and green electricity for transport, and give a much-needed boost to genuine green fuels.
