Porsche has founded its business on the promotion and supply of highly polluting vehicles. Along with the rest of the German car industry they are desperately resisting the strong measures needed to tackle the car industry’s contribution to climate change. According to FoE figures, 44 of the 46 models in Porsche's range would face the £25 charge. Its most polluting model, the Cayenne Turbo S (see photo), emits 378g of CO2 per kilometre, about four times as much as the most fuel efficient vehicles on the market.Here is my letter to their Customer Service department prompted by a letter by local campaigner Matt Archibald:
I was horrified to read that you are mounting a legal challenge to the decision to raise the London congestion charge from £8 to £25 for the highest-polluting vehicles.
Drivers of more environmentally damaging vehicles should pay proportionately more for the privelege of owning and driving such vehicles, especially within an urban environment. Why should Londoners face unnecessary levels of pollution and greenhouse gases from a tiny minority? No-one is allowed to throw their rubbish in the street and Porsche should not be allowed to impose gas-guzzling, polluting cars on Londoners who do not want them.
Have you not read the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that spells out in no uncertain terms that we need to massively cut our emissions? Even Nicholas Stern said last week: "We badly underestimated the degree of damages and the risks of climate change. All of the links in the chain are on average worse than we thought a couple of years ago." Our Government and even Ken Livingstone (who is better than most) are failing dismally to understand the enormity of what the scientists are saying. We need much greater moves than a pitiful £25 charge if we are to make a future for ourselves and future generations.
I urge you to read those reports: already we see the impacts of our CO2 emissions are impacting on the world's poor. All the forecasts indicate this will get much worse and impact severely on our own economy.
The congestion charge is one of the few measures to actually help reduce congestion. It is no wonder that climate activists are starting to target your showrooms. Instead of spending time on trying to reduce the charge, it would be more appropriate for Porsche to put its effort into making a new generation of much less polluting vehicles. If not Porsche will become forever seen as a dinosaur of the car industry: as one commentator put it "an emblem of all our environmental crimes".
I look forward to hearing your views. Cllr. Philip Booth, Stroud District councillor for the Randwick, Ruscombe and Whiteshill ward,
Others can write to: customer.assistance@porsche.co.uk
2 comments:
Although I support charging the highest polluting cars I don't support the changes to the congestion charge as it wipes out any incentive for electric cars.
As the new changes make cars emitting less than 120g/km CO2 exempt it means that people will be more likely to go with a regular internal combustion engine car.
Indeed this is why the Reva G-Wiz has sold as much as it has in London. I'm personally not a fan of the car but there are more choices coming along such as the Think City electric car from Norway.
A spokesman for Transport for London (TfL) notes that the electric vehicle congestion charge discount would remain in place and argued that offering a discount to other low emission vehicles would have little impact on electric car sales. He also noted that electric cars had always had to compete with alternative fuel vehicles and hybrids that are exempt from the congestion charge.
I'm not so convinced with this - and agree with the last comment that it could have an impact on sales of electric cars - however the increases in congestion charge for others is an important move that I fully support.
Post a Comment