London's New Low Emission Standards Are Bad for Business

In most of the cases, stricter regulations seeking to curb greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality affect the profit margins obtained by major companies.

This appears to be the case of London-based enterprises, forced to comply with new standards launched through the Low Emission Zone (LEZ), which will be implemented starting January 3rd, Business Green informs.

From January 2012 any vehicle operator traveling inside the Low Emission Zone will have to pay a £200 ($308/€238 )fine on a daily basis, “unless their vehicle meets Euro 4 emission levels for particulate matter (soot) for HGVs or Euro 3 for LGVs,” according to GreenUrban.

London authorities estimate that 150,000 vehicles have to limit their emission of small toxic particles .This new regulation, applied for HGVs, big vans and buses comes as an effective method of fighting air pollution in London.

It seems that many companies and private owners will have to empty their pockets, since a report issued by Transport for London (TfL) three months ago revealed that the owners of 10,000 vehicles were still unable to respect the LEZ anti-pollution scheme.

Apparently, officials from GreenUrban, a company helping UK drivers make their cars eco-conscious to avoid penalty charges from Low Emission Zones by applying new product technologies to their vehicles, states that they have more and more clients. Its Ecotrap can be installed in up to four weeks, so the deadline seems too close for the drivers who have just decided to go green to avoid fines.

First car owners who will be unable to comply with the new stands will receive a letter forcing them to implement changes in less than 28 days.

"The owners of the vast majority of the vehicles affected by the forthcoming changes have already taken steps to clean up their vehicles, helping us to deliver cleaner air for London,” stated Nick Fairholme, director of congestion charging and traffic enforcement at TfL.

In 2008, 98% of big lorries and 96% of medium-sized lorries, buses and coaches succeeded in revealing improvements, to respect the Euro III standard. Fairholme is confident that a similar compliance rate will be displayed in 2012.