Speaking about the scheme, Skea, 69, a former professor of Sustainable Energy at Imperial College and a founding member of the UK’s Committee on Climate Change, told The Spectator: “The key issue around that is it’s really important to keep people engaged with the process and not pass it top-down.
“We need to be conscious about the economic effects that any measures have on different groups within society, because we know that people on lower incomes tend to drive older cars that are going to be hit by low emission zones.
“Electric cars cost money that people on lower incomes can’t necessarily find the capital to pay. All of these issues need to be taken into consideration when you are developing policy, and explained and consulted all the way along.”
‘Lack of awareness’
Last week, Roger Hallam, the founder of Extinction Rebellion, hit out at Khan’s Ulez scheme as “intrusive” and “regressive” for the lowest-paid Londoners.
Hallam also attacked “urban middle-class neo-liberal Left” thinkers behind the Mayor’s road charge, who he said showed a “total lack of sensitivity and self-awareness.”
Prof Skea warned that doom-laden messaging about the environment may do more harm than good.
“(I’m) very conscious that constant drip-drip anxiety messages could have a paralysing effect on climate action because people just give up and say, “Well, the world’s going to hell anyway, so why bother about it?”’
“One of the messages we were keen to get across is that the human race has agency over its future.”