The simmering tensions between the road lobby and the government have surfaced again as fuel prices soar. Yesterday, the freight industry launched a campaign to lobby against any further rises in fuel duty. The haulage industry and motorists complain that they are being seriously squeezed by a triple whammy of rising oil prices, the increased rate of VAT and the threat of further increases in fuel duty.
And of course, when motorists and truckers shout, ministers sit up and take notice, not least because of the looming threat of a re-run of the road blockades that so successfully brought the country to a halt a decade ago.
Whilst there is no doubt that the cost of fuel is rising and this is putting businesses and motorists under pressure, the fact remains that driving is cheaper than it has ever been. According to government figures, the cost of motoring has fallen 14% in real terms since 1997, whilst the cost of travelling by rail has increased by 13%, and the cost of bus and coach travel has increased by 24%. More importantly though, the fact that the threat of fuel protests has reared its head for the fourth time in less than ten years demonstrates that the narrow focus of the industry lobby groups on the tax regime has failed to fix the problem. We are overly dependent on an increasingly scarce natural resource. Until we reduce our dependence on oil, we will continue to be exposed to the whims of the oil companies, the car manufacturers, and the cartel of the oil producing countries that make up OPEC.
The BP oil spill shone a light on the lengths to which oil companies will go – whether that’s drilling deep into our oceans and the pristine Arctic wilderness or ravaging an area the size of England over in Canada in order to sift the oil out of Alberta’s tar sands - to chase the last drops of oil, with devastating consequences for the natural world and the climate. While our economy is so completely geared towards oil, we will be forced to pay whatever price the market sets for the gleaming black stuff. It is this dependence that we must tackle if we’re going to solve this problem permanently.
No one’s talking about going beyond oil tomorrow. But that doesn’t mean we can’t start now. By making sure the cars we drive now are as efficient as they can be.
If we introduced tough fuel efficiency standards for cars and vans alone, there is the potential to save 1.1 million barrels of oil a day in the EU.
The technology to do this has been around for decades, yet the car industry has blocked even the most moderate fuel efficiency standards at every turn. That means people are having to pay out at the pumps because of the car manufacturers’ regressive stance.
In the next few years, car efficiency standards will be debated once more in Europe. Unsurprisingly the car industry is already gearing up to water down existing targets, leaving the motorist to pick up the tab through their fuel bills. The car manufacturers’ unreconstructed attitude is a mystery given that car execs know deep down that their current business model has no future. Only those making the most efficient cars and vans will thrive, leaving the rest behind.
The battle over fuel efficiency standards in Europe is set to become one of the defining issues for the environment movement over the next few years. At stake is the chance to protect both the environment and the economy by reducing our demand for oil, and ease the plight of road hauliers and families currently feeling the pinch.
