Table 2.

Descriptions of the net zero policy (see also Ipsos & CAST, 2022).

Transport
Creating low traffic neighbourhoods The government may want to reduce the number of vehicles on the road by creating low-traffic neighbourhoods. This is where cars, vans and other vehicles are stopped from using residential roads as shortcuts. This is done by putting some road closures in place using measures such as bollards or planters. Residents are still able to drive onto their street, but it is made more difficult or impossible to drive straight through the area from one main road to the next.	Frequent flyer levies The government may want to replace current tax on flights (Air Passenger Duty) by a tax that increases as people fly more often. People who only fly once in a year could pay no tax, while people who fly several times per year could pay a large amount of tax. This could mean people replace some flights with alternatives, like trains or ferries, or with video conferencing instead of some business travel.	Electric vehicle (EV) subsidies The government may want to subsidise the purchase of electric vehicles for consumers in order to reduce the number of petrol and diesel cars on the road. The government is ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and encouraging a shift to electric vehicles. Putting in place subsidies, would mean electric vehicles become less expensive to buy than they are now. The money to do this may come from increasing fuel duty on petrol and diesel cars
Home heating	Material consumption	Green finance
Phasing out the sale of gas and coal boilers The government may want to cut down on the use of fossil fuel energy by banning the sale of new gas boilers in the next few years, for example by 2030. This would mean that when homeowners come to replace their boilers, they would need to buy a different sort of heating system, such as an electric heat pump or hydrogen boiler. This may cost more initially but is likely to be cheaper to run in the longer term	Changing product pricing to reflect how environmentally friendly products are The government may want to replace current tax on products by a tax that will vary according to the negative environmental impacts of different products. This would mean products that are produced using high amounts of resources such as energy, water or scarce metals, or products that travel long distances before being sold in a shop would be more expensive than products that are manufactured in more environmentally-friendly ways	Ensuring access to sustainable pension funds The government may want to increase the public’s access to sustainable pension funds. This means that they would increase regulations to ensure that all pension providers include a pension fund option for people to choose from that only used sustainable investments that do not harm people or the planet. This would be the default pension option for the general public, unless they chose to opt out of it.
Food and diet
Increasing vegetarian/vegan options in public food provisioning The government may want to reduce the amount of red meat and dairy products people eat, by increasing vegetarian and vegan options in all public sector catering. This would mean that meals served in hospital cafés, school canteens, prisons, police and fire stations, council offices, and across the public sector, would need to include a significant proportion of meat-free and plant-based options. It would reduce but not remove meat and dairy from menus, while it would increase the choice of meat/dairy-free alternatives.	Higher taxes on red meat and dairy products The government may want to replace current tax on food products by a tax that will vary according to the negative environmental impacts of different foods. This would increase the price of red meat and dairy products, and reduce the price of certain other foods (e.g., vegetables, bread)