Fleets are again coming under increasing pressure to adopt cars with emission reducing technology.

Rosie Winterton made the call for such technology to be adopted at a conference of national transport operators in Sheffield.

She promised that the Government will help fleets to adopt such technology.

In keynote speech at the Yorkshire Green Fleet event, the minister said the government wants to encourage the development of cutting edge technology

“Tackling carbon emissions from transport remains a challenging issue.

"For the sake of generations to come we need to research, develop and rapidly adopt low carbon transport technologies,” she said.

“The Government has an important role to play by supporting the development of new, cleaner technologies – and we are already making progress in a number of ways.”

In her speech, the Minister highlighted the fact that a number of local authorities across Yorkshire are already looking at how they can use biomethane in their fleets.

In addition, she applauded Sheffield City Council for considering a trial of new electric vehicles for use as part of their local authority fleet
Ms Winterton said support for the development of greener vehicle technologies is expanding.

This includes at least £30 million for a new Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform to support research and development projects within the UK.

The Department for Transport is also providing funding to the new Energy Technologies Institute to develop low carbon transport.

She said private sector fleets have an important role to play. Improved environmental performance could result in reduced fuel costs she said.