Green campaigners want sales of petrol and diesel cars banned by 2030

The call to give new petrol and diesel vehicles a shelf life of potentially just 11 more years comes after new data shows freight vehicles are fuelling an increase in oil consumption on West Lindsey's roads.

New Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy figures show that road transport in West Lindsey consumed 65,334 tonnes of oil in 2017 – six per cent more than five years earlier.

Commercial transport accounted for 38 per cent of oil consumption in the area. Its demand for petrol and diesel rose 18 per cent to 24,578 tonnes in 2017.

Personal transport, such as buses, cars or motorbikes, still amounted to the biggest proportion of the oil used, though it required nine more tonnes of fuel compared to 2012.

According to Government reports, poor air quality is the biggest environmental risk to public health in the UK and is thought to be linked to about 40,000 premature deaths a year.

To tackle the issue, the Government has set 2040 as a deadline for banning the sale of diesel and petrol cars, making all new vehicles effectively net zero emission.

While air pollution has been mostly falling, nitrogen oxides – which form part of the discharge from car exhausts - regularly breach safe levels in many cities.

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Nationally, diesel vehicles produce the overwhelming majority of nitrogen oxide gases coming from roadside sources.

Diesel vehicles accounted for 69 per cent of the oil consumed by transport in West Lindsey in 2017 – requiring 19 per cent more fuel than five years earlier.

Greenpeace has now called upon the Government to move forward the ban deadline for diesel and petrol cars to 2030.

Areeba Hamid, climate campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: "Road transport has been a particularly disappointing sector in terms of de-carbonisation.

"Despite the climate emergency, and impressive advances in electric vehicle technology, car manufacturers are still putting more effort into designing, building and promoting petrol and diesel vehicles, particularly the heavier, dirtier 4x4 models with bigger profit margins.

"Meanwhile the UK Government has set a 2040 date for phasing these vehicles out, 10 to 15 years later than the Governments showing real leadership on this issue.

"It’s this sort of short-sightedness that will be a severe handicap to our economy in the medium term, as we are forced to make more extreme and more expensive changes to compensate for the mistakes we’re making now."

Across the UK, road transport consumed nearly 38 million tonnes of oil in 2017, two per cent more than five years earlier.

Freight transport accounted for a third of the gasoline and diesel used on roads, but its demand increased by 14 per cent over the time period.

However, the amount of oil used by personal transport fell by three per cent.

Mike Childs, head of science at Friends of the Earth, said: "Freight companies that shift goods around the UK need to play their part in addressing the climate emergency.

"This means switching to electric and hydrogen, and away from oil. While these technologies are less advanced for trucks than for cars the technology is developing fast."