Diesel cars for me but not for thee

Time and again, politicians and activists who talk the green talk are found out for not walking the green walk.

In recent weeks, we’ve learned that Alok Sharma, president of the upcoming COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, and Allegra Stratton, the spokesperson for those talks, are both proud owners of CO2-emitting diesel cars.

This is despite their own government’s policy to force petrol and diesel cars off the road in favour of electric vehicles. ‘I don’t fancy it just yet’, was Stratton’s defence. This is the same woman who is charged with warning the world that the threat to the climate is so urgent that emissions need to be brought down ‘right now’.

This week we learned of an even more shocking case of diesel double-dealing. It turns out that Gail Bradbrook, a founder of Extinction Rebellion (XR), also drives a diesel car.

The eco-nutters of XR are currently blocking roads in London and demanding the decarbonisation of Britain by 2025. XR is explicitly opposed to the use of even the most eco-friendly private vehicles. Earlier this year, on its official Twitter account, it warned that replacing ‘every petrol car in the world with electric’ would mean that the ‘emissions in the manufacturing alone will fry our climate’.

Another great irony here is that diesel was once viewed as the greener choice. Governments even subsidised diesel vehicles to encourage take-up. Now scientists believe that diesel cars could be up to four times as polluting as petrol cars. In other words, these spokespeople for the green lifestyle are not only shunning carbon-neutral technology, but they are also using one of the most polluting forms of transport possible.

Of course, Sharma, Stratton and Bradbrook all have good personal reasons for driving diesel cars. Not least because electric cars are, at present prices, far too expensive. But while eco-zealots always make allowances for their own travel needs, they view the travel needs of ordinary people as selfish, unnecessary and harmful to the planet.

Their eco-hypocrisy is enough to drive you mad.