London low emission zone

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London Politics

v t e

The London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) is an area of London in which an

The current standard for large commercial vehicles (over 3.5 tonnes) is Euro VI, increased from Euro IV on 1 March 2021. Vehicles need to meet these standards or face a penalty of £100 per day. The new rules were due to come into force in October 2020 but were postponed due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.^[1]

History

Since 1993, the

of 40 μgm${\displaystyle ^{-3}}$ (21 ppb), with eleven sites exceeding the hourly limits of 200 μgm${\displaystyle ^{-3}}$ (105 ppb) on at least 18 occasions each.

In 2000 one measuring site exceeded EU limits for air pollution, pollution rose for two years prior to 2007.^[3][4][5] The Green Party reported that nine sites in London exceeded the EU limits for air pollution in 2007.^[6] The A23 at Brixton suffered the most consistently high levels for more than two-fifths of the period. Carbon monoxide levels had reduced rapidly during the late 1990s and been relatively stable since 2002.

In 2007

Towards the end of 2006, the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, proposed changing the congestion charge fee, from being a flat rate for all qualifying vehicles, to being based on Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) bands.^[8]

VED bands for new vehicles are based on the results of a laboratory test, designed to calculate the theoretical potential emissions of the vehicle in grammes of CO₂ per kilometre travelled, under ideal conditions. The lowest band, Band A, is for vehicles with a calculated CO₂ value of up to 100

Under the proposed modifications to the scheme, vehicles falling into Band A would have a reduced, or even zero charge, whilst those in Band G would be charged at £25 per day. Certain categories of vehicle, such as electric vehicles, are already exempt from the charge.^[10][11] These proposals were put out to public consultation in August 2007.^[12]

In early 2006, consultations began on another charging scheme for motor vehicles entering London. Under this new scheme, a daily charge would be applied to the vehicles responsible for most of London's road traffic emissions, commercial vehicles—such as lorries, buses, and coaches, with diesel engines. Cars were explicitly excluded. The objective of the new scheme is to help London meet its European Union (EU) air pollution obligations—specifically the EU Air Quality Framework Directive—as part of the Mayor's programme to make London the greenest city in the world. Despite some opposition, on 9 May 2007 the Mayor confirmed that he would proceed with a London Low Emission Zone, focused entirely on vehicle emissions, that plans to reduce emissions overall by 16% by 2012.^[3]

Introduction

The LEZ came into operation on 4 February 2008^[13] with a phased introduction of further provisions as increasingly tough emissions standards apply.^[14] Vehicles registered after October 2001 are generally compliant with the first stages of the zone when Euro 3 engine compliance was the mandatory requirement.

The regulations were tightened in July 2008 with more vehicles types included.

On 2 February 2009 the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, announced his intention to cancel the third phase of the LEZ covering vans from 2010, subject to the outcome of a public consultation later in the year.^[15] The Freight Transport Association welcomed this move in its 3 February press release.^[16] The scheme was fully implemented on 3 January 2012.

For London Buses, since January 2012 a new Low Emission Zone (LEZ) was adopted, with those older buses selectively phasing out (those with no electronic destination displays and more than 12 years old) and the remaining buses were converted to Euro 3 or 4 standards. The new Low Emission Zone (LEZ) rules will be implemented from 2015, thus allowing all the Euro II vehicles and Euro III without catalytic standards to be removed. In July 2016 the last bus not meeting the standards was withdrawn.^{[citation needed]}

Tougher standards from 2021

From 1 March 2021, all large commercial vehicles in London need to meet Euro VI standards or face a penalty of £100 per day. Commercial vehicles which do not meet the older standards (Euro IV) are charged £300 per day.^[17]

Statistics from TfL showed that the number of vehicles complying rose to nearly 90% upon the introduction of tougher standards in March 2021, up from 70% in May 2019.^[18] All buses in London meet the Euro VI standards, with an increasing number becoming zero emission.^[19]

Timeline

Applicable vehicles over the implementation phase:^[14]

Operation

The zone covers most of

• Lorries
  , buses, and coaches that meet the Euro 6 emission standard.
• Vans and minibuses not exceeding 3.5 tonnes
• All cars and motorcycles

Non-GB registered vehicles that meet the required LEZ standards will need to register with TfL; most compliant GB registered vehicles do not.^[22] Owners of vehicles that do not meet the above requirements have a number of options:^[23]

• Fit a filter
• Replace the vehicle
• Reorganise their fleet to only use compliant vehicles in London
• Convert to natural gas
• Pay the charge (from £100 to £200 for each calendar day that the vehicle travels within the zone)^[24]

The zone is monitored using automatic number plate reading cameras (

The ULEZ, which went into effect on 8 April 2019,^[32] initially covered the same area as the T-Charge but applies 24/7, 365 days a year, with charges of £12.50 a day for cars, vans and motorcycles, and £100 a day for lorries, buses and coaches. One month after its introduction, the number of the worst polluting vehicles entering the zone each day had dropped from 35,578 to 26,195.^[33] The zone was extended to the North Circular and South Circular roads on 25 October 2021.^[34][35] It was expanded again on 29 August 2023 to coincide with the low emission zone, covering almost all of Greater London.^[36]

See also

• Ecopass (Milan)
• Great Smog
• London congestion charge
• Low-emission zone
• Motoring taxation in the United Kingdom
• Road pricing in the United Kingdom

References