Green fleet plans for Kensington and Chelsea

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has announced its ambition to convert its entire fleet of council vehicles to green vehicles, with the process starting in October.

Starting from next month, the council will aim to procure green ‘zero tail pipe emissions’ vehicle or ‘ultra-low emissions’ vehicles, as well as working with contractors to find ways to convert their refuse trucks to low emission vehicles, with the 20 tonnes of C02 that each diesel truck puts out reduced by half and saving 430 tonnes of CO2 a year.

The council hopes that vehicles will save an estimated 0.7 tonnes of CO2 per petrol car, 0.35 tonne per diesel car and almost one tonne of C02 per diesel van every single year, which, if applied to the entire fleet, would save over 40 tonnes of C02 a year.

The green vehicle transition aims to be completed by the end of 2022, ahead of London’s wider plans to create a zero emission zone in inner London by 2040.

David Lindsay, lead Member for Heathy City Living at the council, said: “Converting council vehicles to cut emissions is an important part of the council’s plan to improve air quality for our residents and tackle climate change. Ultimately we want our staff, residents, businesses and the huge number of people who visit our area to look at alternatives to using motor vehicles in their day to day lives.”

Elizabeth Campbell, leader of the council, said: “Improving the air quality of the borough and reducing carbon emissions is one of the council’s top priorities. I look forward to working with partners across London on improving the city’s air quality. It’s doesn’t matter if you are driving a car, a van or an ambassador’s limousine, we want everyone in the borough to do their bit."