Cars that fry the planet: the arguments in favor of banning internal combustion engine cars

Many countries are introducing bans or other rules to stop the sale of new cars with internal combustion engines. This is a clear and reasonable measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality in cities in the long term.

A ban is also being investigated in Sweden, but the government has requested that the investigator propose exemptions for so-called plug-in hybrids - cars that run on petrol or diesel but have electric motors. This is a logical but unfortunate consequence of Sweden's strategy of trying to do two contradictory things at the same time: reducing greenhouse gas emissions from combustion engines and supporting the Swedish car industry.

Such an exemption risks further delaying the already slow pace of climate action in the transport sector and build Sweden into the fossil fuel dependency that the government says it wants to take the country out of.

New Weather believes that Sweden urgently needs to introduce policy instruments that reduce transport and make it more efficient. A ban on internal combustion engines - including plug-in hybrids - is a good idea. including plug-in hybrids - is part of this. But this is not enough. The priority must be must be fast and effective measures to reduce sales of new cars with internal combustion engines now.