Greens pitch 2030 fossil-fuelled car light vehicle ban

The Green Party has announced its transport strategy, with the bold move to ban the importation of new fossil-fuelled vehicles from 2030 on its wish list.

The plan includes investment in rapid, intercity passenger rail, connecting provincial centres with major cities; the funding of busways, light rail, and separated cycleways; incentives to move heavy freight to zero-emission vehicles by 2050 and a discounted national travel pass.

“As we recover from COVID-19, we have a once-in-a generation opportunity to rebuild our communities in a way which tackles the climate crisis and makes our communities healthier in the long-term,” party co-leader James Shaw says.

“Decades of under-investment in rail and public transport has led to an over-reliance on cars to get around. It’s worsening the climate crisis, and it has made getting around our cities, and between them, expensive and difficult.”

While not providing details on how its 2030 plan will work, it says it will link its plan to the United Kingdom’s.

“We will introduce a target date linked to the date set by the UK, likely to be 2030, at which point only zero emission light vehicles (cars, vans, and utes) would be able to be imported into Aotearoa.”

“We chose this date because we don’t want New Zealand to become a dumping ground for other countries’ dirty discards.”