The House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee has called on the Government to provide clarification on its delay to the 2030 ICE ban.

The impact of the ICE ban delay on both the UK’s 2050 net zero strategy and the planned ZEV mandate have both been major talking points

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement this week that the 2030 ban on the sale of diesel and petrol new cars/vans will be pushed back five years, Baroness Parminter, chair of the cross-party committee, has written to Transport Secretary Mark Harper to seek more details.

Issues under the spotlight include how the decision will impact the UK’s ability to meet the overarching target of achieving net zero by 2050.

The Select Committee has also asked the Government to confirm its plans to introduce a ZEV mandate in the light of its decision to delay the ICE ban.

The impact of the ICE ban delay on both the UK’s 2050 net zero strategy and the planned ZEV mandate have both been major talking points since Sunak’s speech.

This includes from the Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee, which is running an inquiry on EVs and said the PM had chosen “to kick the can down the road, rather than pick it up and put it in the recycling bin”.

Baroness Parminter said the overwhelming evidence so far from its inquiry was that both industry and the public need policy certainty, consistency, and clear leadership on the journey to net zero. She also expressed concerns over how the UK’s legally binding carbon targets would now be met.

Meanwhile, several Committee members spoke on the floor of the House this week about the Government’s decision to delay phase-out dates for petrol and diesel vehicles and gas boilers.

Environmental campaign groups have also slammed the Government’s major policy shift.

Friends of the Earth said the Prime Minister was “sailing into dangerous legal waters with his climate policy reversals because legally binding targets are highly unlikely to be met despite Rishi Sunak stating he is still committed to them”.

Meanwhile, the Climate Change Committee has also voiced its concerns, warning of the impact on the Government’s legal obligations to not only meet its net zero 2050 target, but also the interim emission reduction targets, as also set in UK law.

Following Sunak’s speech, Professor Piers Forster, chair of the Climate Change Committee, said: “We need [to] go away and do the calculations, but today’s announcement is likely to take the UK further away from being able to meet its legal commitments.”

The House of Lords Committee has also warned that delaying the 2030 ICE ban may also increase the cost of the measures needed to get us to net zero by 2050. Committee member Baroness Boycott said: “Has the Government commissioned to do a thorough cost analysis of what these delays are going to mean, not for us today, but for people in five and 10 and 15 years’ time.”

The ZEV mandate – and the lack of information on it – also continues to dominate conversations. Essentially a quota on how many fully electric cars and vans that automakers must sell in the UK, it’s due to come into effect from 2024, but details have still not been announced. However, the BBC said Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch had confirmed the mandate will come into effect as outlined.

As the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has said, the mandate is the “single biggest mechanism to deliver net zero”. It’s expected to require car firms to hit a target of 22% sold in 2024 being electric, rising to 80% in 2030 and reaching 100% in 2035 – in line with the 2035 ban.

This would help drive EV availability. But, as one carmaker apparently told the BBC, forcing firms to hit a target on electric vehicle sales, while pushing back the ban on new petrol and diesel car sales, would make it harder for firms to sell the electric ones.

The Lords’ Select Committee’s letter to the Transport Secretary can be viewed and downloaded from the committee’s website. The response will be published on the website upon receipt.