Government seeks feedback on phasing out gas powered cars
The Government is seeking public input on how to phase out gas powered cars and replace them with zero emission vehicles.
At a press conference, Wayne Furbert, the Minister of Transport, said that policies to ban the importation and sale of combustion vehicles by 2035 would be based on feedback from the public and stakeholders.
He said that the island was an ideal location for zero emission vehicles – ZEVs – because of its size.
Mr Furbert said: “Bermuda is uniquely positioned to benefit from a transition to ZEVs due to the vehicles’ low annual mileage requirements and increasing renewable energy generation on the electrical grid.”
He added that ZEVs were becoming more common on the island, with the proliferation of electric rental cars and public buses.
He said: “Eliminating emissions from transport will not only reduce Bermuda’s contribution to climate change but improve local air quality and reduce dependence on foreign oil.
“Bermuda is at a crossroads. We must have open and robust discussions regarding policy measures to ensure we are not left with outdated technology.
“The next step in the process is to develop concrete, thorough, and exhaustive policy recommendations based on the feedback received.”
Mr Furbert acknowledged that other factors will also influence how the policy is fleshed out.
He also admitted that the Government was deliberately withholding certain details of the policy.
He said: “At this time, there are a few details of the policy intentionally omitted from the public consult document. We have not included this information in the consultation document with the intention of first soliciting feedback from the public.
“After it concludes the Ministry of Transport will review each response and provide a detailed policy recommendation and strategy to the public.“
Asked by reporters why it appeared that the Government was taking a back seat, he replied: “We’re leading the initiative – we have set a policy for 2035, but we also want to hear from the public on their views.
“We will get a lot of feedback because people are very much interested in this topic and we will listen to the public.”
The public policy consultation document can be found here. The deadline for submission is March 23.
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