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Britain Plans Billion-Pound Boost for Electric Cars | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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An electric car is plugged into a charging point in London, Britain April 7, 2016. REUTERS/Neil Hall


London — ِAs part of plans to invest 2.5 billion pounds ($3.3 billion) by 2021 to help meet its climate change targets, Britain will spend one billion pounds to promote electric and other low-emission vehicles, and step up spending on research and innovation, Reuters reported.

The government’s Clean Growth Strategy, which details government spending between 2015 and 2021, includes heavy investment in science, research and innovation to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Around 900 million pounds will be spent on innovation. This includes 265 million pounds for smart energy, 460 million pounds to support new nuclear technology and 177 million pounds to help develop new technology to further reduce the cost of renewables such as innovations in turbine blades for wind power.

The funding will cover programmes in the energy, transport, agriculture and waste sectors.

The government said it said it would spend one billion pounds “supporting the take-up of ultra low-emission vehicles, including helping consumers to overcome the upfront cost of an electric car,” but gave no details of how the scheme would work.

In July, the government said it would ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040.

Britain has a legally binding target to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, blamed for global warming, by 80 percent by 2050 compared with 1990.

Government data showed by the end of 2016 Britain was more than half way to meeting the target, having cut GHG emissions by 42 percent compared with 1990 levels.

The government will invest up to 100 million pounds in technology to capture, use and store carbon dioxide emissions and in industrial innovations to drive down emissions, according to the plan published on Thursday.