Ninety five percent of heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches in London now meet the strict Low Emission Zone standards introduced by the Mayor Sadiq Khan, helping to clean up the capital’s toxic air and improve the health of Londoners.
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A new report published by the Mayor shows that since stricter standards for the London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) were introduced in March this year, the number of heavy vehicles complying has increased from 87 per cent to 95 per cent and has almost doubled since the scheme was first announced in February 2017.
The LEZ is part of the Mayor’s bold plans to tackle the scourge of air pollution in the capital and aims to encourage the most polluting heavy diesel vehicles to become cleaner. It covers most of Greater London and operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
The new LEZ standards will help drive down NOx emissions from heavy vehicles by as much as 60 per cent, helping London meet legal limits no later than 2025, an achievement that independent researchers calculated would take 193 years without these schemes.
The scheme complements the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), a zone operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in which most vehicles need to meet the ULEZ emissions standards or their drivers must pay a daily charge to drive within the zone.
On 25 October the ULEZ will be expanding up to, but not including, the North and South Circular Road.
As part of the Mayor’s wide-ranging programme to improve London’s air quality, the Low Emission Zone standards were tightened to align with the ULEZ and encourage operators of the most polluting heavy diesel vehicles driving in the capital to switch to cleaner vehicles.
As part of the Mayor’s commitment to lead the way and radically transform the TfL bus fleet, all of TfL’s buses meet or exceed the LEZ standard. This has reduced NOx emissions from the TfL bus fleet by around 90 per cent compared to 2016. â–