£3m plan for clean air
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• The European Commission has approved UK plans to provide up to £3m in state aid to help operators reduce carbon dioxide emissions over the next four years.
Brussels says the schemes being considered under the UK Logistics Transaction Programme could help prevent about 350.000 tonnes of carbon emissions. This would count as part of Britain's commitments under the Kyoto protocol on climate change.
The Department of Transport has received "umbrella" permission to provide aid; it is now considering how to implement specific schemes.
Proposals based on a "self-help" approach have been submitted by the Freight Transport and Road Haulage Associations; the government has approved these in principle. It is now inviting bids from organisations within the road transport industry to run such schemes.
No firm requirements have yet been laid down, but the idea is to provide for improvements in logistical efficiency by reducing the number of kilometres driven while maintaining the same haulage performance, and by improving vehicle efficiency through reducing fuel consumption.