Boris Johnson pledges to ban gasoline car sales by 2030 as part of significant environmental plan

Britain will ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars by the year 2030, said prime minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday. The commitment expedites the date formerly set by the European country by a full decade.

Johnson committed to the date as a part of the "green industrial revolution," which he says could create as many as 250,000 clean energy jobs in the coming decade. 

Car makers in Europe are dubious about the new target date. The original goal of 2040  was hardly tenable, in their view. 

The government's plan will also mean heightened investments in hydrogen energy, wind energy, and carbon capture technology. Several new nuclear power plants are also part of the plan. 

"Although this year has taken a very different path to the one we expected, I haven't lost sight of our ambitious plans to level up across the country. Our green industrial revolution will be powered by the wind turbines of Scotland and the North East, propelled by the electric vehicles made in the Midlands and advanced by the latest technologies developed in Wales, so we can look ahead to a more prosperous, greener future," said Johnson in a statement.

The prime minister is attempting, through the lofty environmental plan, to bring jobs to the former industrial regions of central and northern England, which have struggled in recent decades. 

Next year, England will host the COP26 global climate change conference, which was initially scheduled for this year, but delayed due to the global coronavirus pandemic.