Energy minister admits swapping hybrid car for diesel
TV interview reveals poor record on clean energy, although Claire Perry says she’s ‘pretty sure’ her next car will be electric
Energy minister Claire Perry has admitted that she drives a diesel car in her constituency – despite government opposition to the fuel.
A Sky News interview with her saw the Tory MP for Devizes – who is also the minister for clean growth and leads government efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions – face a grilling on her clean energy habits, and came just a week after the UN urged countries to take more action to limit global warming to a pre-agreed 1.5 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels.
The 54-year-old said: “When I get to London I try to cycle a lot. But I have got a diesel car at the moment, a small diesel.
“I did have a hybrid for a very long time, and then I switched to a diesel. But I’m pretty sure my next car will be an electric one.”
Perry also admitted that she didn’t have solar panels on her home as her roof wasn’t south-facing, and hadn’t given up meat despite research showing that farming meat produced more carbon dioxide than did transport.
Diesel vehicles tend to produce less carbon dioxide than petrol ones, so their adoption aids global climate change targets. However, they produce more local emissions such as nitrogen oxides and soot, leading to wide-ranging resistance to them by governments across Europe in a bid to clean up cities.
As a result, the European market share of diesel cars has dropped from 42.5 per cent at the start of 2017 to 36.5 per cent at the start of 2018.
