BRC urges government to accelerate use of green goods vehicles

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has called on the government to act to encourage take up of green technologies and reduce emissions from goods vehicles.

It says that retailers are making progress to address this issue, but without government intervention to generate faster adoption of green vehicles, it will not be possible for the industry to reach its 2035 net zero target.

A new report by BearingPoint, commissioned by the BRC and DP World as part of the BRC’s Climate Action Roadmap, has found that 88% of retailers operating in-house fleets have some type of green fuelled vehicle, but only one quarter of these were operating them on a large scale.

While electric vehicle solutions already exist for light goods vehicles, further technological advances will be needed before electric heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) offer practical alternatives.

In a letter to the Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, the BRC makes three recommendations.

Financial incentives to encourage the uptake of green fuelled vehicles. For instance, a 0% VAT rate for new green vehicle purchases would greatly boost their uptake by businesses.

Accelerated roll-out of public charging and fuelling infrastructure for green vehicles, particularly along major trunk roads.

And the government should also legislate timescales for phasing out diesel and petrol fuelled HGVs.

Peter Andrews, Head of Sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, says: “Retailers and fleet operators are making decisions in the next few years about the vehicles that will be operating in 2030 and beyond.”

“This is why it’s so important to make sure that green fuel options are not only available, but invested in.”

“Government has a key part to play, not just in encouraging the take up of these technologies, but also in supporting further research and development in this area. If the UK is to become a world leader in the transition to net zero, we need action today.”