The UK is seeing a significant push on the imposition of Clean Air Zones in its major cities in an effort to tackle emissions levels, NO2 in particular.  Such schemes are designed to incentivize changes in vehicle usage and ownership through the application of daily charges for polluting and ‘non-compliant’ vehicles entering the zone. Many of the planned zones intend to exempt domestic cars from charges, leaving business vehicles of all sizes, private hire vehicles, buses and coaches to be affected. With proposed daily charges and penalties for non-payment, this could be a material cost for businesses with significant fleets of vehicles active in city centers.

There could be significant opportunities for businesses able to take advantage of this schemes. This could range from green-vehicle manufacturers or those able to develop retro-fitting solutions, to green tech solutions providers, to landlords wanting to establish staging posts for electric vehicle exchange on the perimeters of charging zones.