Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment has been made of the impact of Ultra Low Emissions Zones towards meeting climate change targets; and whether any such assessments have been broken down into individual zones.

Local Authorities have the powers to implement charging zones in order to achieve environmental objectives, but the Government has not carried out an assessment of the impacts of implementing such zones to meet climate change targets.

The Government is working with a number of local authorities to bring local roads to within legal limits for NO2 pollution. A number of these local authorities are implementing Clean Air Zones to achieve this aim, but the primary objective of these zones is to reduce localised NO2 concentrations rather than specifically targeting greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The Government’s assessment of the impact of Clean Air Zones in 2017 estimated a reduction in CO2 emissions of 0.2 MtCO2 over the life of the programme. Where Local Authorities are implementing a Clean Air Zone they are carrying out their own assessment.

The Low Emission Zones and Ultra Low Emission Zones in London were implemented by the Mayor of London, who is therefore responsible for estimating and assessing its impacts.