London businesses told to prepare for more emissions laws

News Article - 27 August 2008
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London will have to change its traffic congestion strategy to reduce its CO2 emissions, and businesses could feel the impact.

The capital consistently breaches air quality standards, and last month the UK government was warned by the European Commission that it may face unlimited fines if air pollution was not brought to within levels required by EU laws, reports BusinessGreen.

The legal limit has been breached by London for three years, and a new EU air quality directive is tipped to make the limit even lower.

This new directive will mean London will be required to have numerous low-emission zones.

A spokeswoman for the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) believed that any new zones should not just target businesses but deal with car emissions too.

She told BusinessGreen: "The current zone only taxes lorries, which are a minor part of the pollution problem in central London.

"Our view is that the environmental savings are not proportional to the cost to businesses, and we would be concerned that this would be the case with any extensions to the zone."

The low-emissions zones differ from the congestion charge in that only vehicles that do not meet certain emissions standards would be charged.

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