London improving UK’s energy security faster than other regions

The sale and use of diesel in London is plunging. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has published statistics on average road fuel sales per filling station since the beginning of 2020. Analysis of this shows that diesel sales in London have fallen nearly 40% in the intervening four years. This compares to a fall of around 20% in all other regions.

Should current trends continue, diesel will stop being sold at public filling stations in the capital sometime in the mid-2030s. London is moving much faster than the rest of the country because of policies implemented to reduce air pollution – which the Government has called “the largest environmental risk to public health” – but burning less diesel has other desirable and usually unconsidered consequences – increased energy security.

The UK is a net importer of diesel, meaning money is flowing out of the country in order to bring the fuel in. Incredibly, in 2024 Londoners are on course to pay over a quarter of a billion pounds less in diesel costs than they paid in 2022.   

Clearly, London’s policies could be replicated elsewhere. Simply implementing better air pollution policies in these cities will have the same positive energy security effects that London is achieving, and should be considered by those city authorities but the government also needs to recognise that cleaning up the nation’s air brings major benefits to the economy.