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Porsche protests
1st March 2008
German car company threatens to sue City of London
Porsche will sue the City of London if the mayor goes ahead with plans to increase the city’s tax on “gas guzzlers” – 4 x 4s and sports cars. Londoners already pay 8 GBP ($16) a day to drive into the city. Under the new “polluter pays” plan, cars with the highest emissions – about 30,000 vehicles – would be charged 25 GBP ($50) a day, while drivers of the cleanest cars would be let in free.
The German car company says the plan is “unjust,” would only marginally lower pollution and would damage the economy, driving (cough) away big business and the world’s elite.
The city says the charge, introduced in 2003, has reduced traffic by 21 per cent, increased cycling by 43 per cent and lowered levels of nitrous oxides and particulate matter (components of smog) and carbon dioxide each by at least 13 per cent. The new charge – along with increased investment in public transport and bike paths – is designed to reduce the city’s carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2025.
Published in The Green Report in The Globe and Mail
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