London Mayor Sadiq Khan has axed plans to introduce a Zero Emissions Zone in central London from 2025.

The Zero Emission Zone featured in the London Mayor’s 2018 Transport Strategy

The scheme, which featured in the London Mayor’s 2018 Transport Strategy, would have levied a charge for all petrol and diesel vehicles, similar to the ZEZ launched as a pilot in Oxford in 2022.

The charges would have provided “disincentives to phase out fossil fuel vehicles altogether”. But the BBC has reported that City Hall has shelved plans and a spokesperson for Sadiq Khan told BBC London the mayor was now focused on achieving net-zero emissions in the capital by 2030, following yesterday’s expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone.

“The mayor is rolling out some of the most ambitious policies of any city in the world to clean up London’s air, including the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone, bringing cleaner air to five million more Londoners,” the spokesperson said.

A Transport for London (TfL) spokesperson also said to the BBC that: “Some small-scale trials of zero or ultra-low emission streets have taken place previously in London, with the support of the mayor and TfL.

“We have no plans at present to progress the introduction of new Zero Emission Zones.”

However, there is still the possibility for individual London boroughs to implement their own zero-emission schemes at a local level.

Khan’s Transport Strategy from 2018 said: “A Zero Emission Zone is likely to require vehicles that drive within it – that are not capable of operating with zero exhaust emissions – to pay road user charges (similar to those in ULEZ or LEZ).”

The move comes after the mayor said earlier this week that a pay-per-mile scheme was not on the agenda despite also being mentioned in the Transport Strategy.

Khan commented: “I’m quite clear though – yes, TfL have done some work into this, the Government’s done some work into this… but it’s not on the table as far as I’m concerned.”