Where are these electric cars?,  Thursday, 23 April 2009 I am writing this comment the day after the 2009 spring budget. The Darling Chancellor has introduced a "scrappage" scheme which gives those part-exchanging an old banger for a new car £2000 off their new vehicle.
There is no incentive for drivers to "green" their travel habits by offering the discount only to purchasers of highly efficient vehicles, or a bigger amount for buyers opting for electrics cars.
So 20 months on from the ZCB report, it seems we still have along way to go before the political establihment really gets to grips with the task of decarbonising the economy.

 Reply to Jenny Hall's comment,  Thursday, 04 October 2007 The 10m ha arable suggested in ZeroCarbonBritain is my estimated maximum area that could be used for arable cropping: The land would be rotational and organically managed so it would probably be significantly better in wildlife terms than today's "arable desert" in Eastern England. The area is so large because we have a lot of mouths to feed.
I am aware of the carbon emissions associated with ploughing of grassland, and the decision was a hard one to make because of this (and disruption to wildlife).
On balance the ZCB agriculture model would sequester C in new woodlands rather than release it.
It was encouraging to find that, assessed in very basic terms of food energy requirements, the densely populated island of Great Britain could feed its 60 million or so inhabitants from an indigenous organic agriculture. 60 million is however at the upper limit of the numbers we could support in this manner, and is plainly too many for us to feel comfortably food-secure.