According to plans set out by Sadiq Khan, older, dirtier cars will have to pay a £10 pollution charge to drive in central London.
The charge, on top of the existing £11.50 congestion charge, would apply from 2017 to cars sold before 2005. London is one of many cities taking action, with Paris banning polluting cars on weekdays. Khan also plans a big expansion of a Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) and a faster roll-out of cleaner buses.
Speaking of the plans, Khan said: "With nearly 10,000 people dying early every year in London due to exposure to air pollution, cleaning up London's toxic air is now an issue of life or death. It's the 60th anniversary of the Clean Air Act 1956, which was passed following the great London smogs of the 1950s. Today we face another pollution public health emergency in London and now it's our turn to act."
Khan also launched a consultation on the proposals at Great Ormond Street hospital for children, whose chief executive, Dr Peter Steer, said: "The mayor's drive to clean up the capital's air is fantastic news for our patients and staff. Children living in highly polluted areas are four times more likely to have reduced lung function in adulthood, yet improving air quality has been shown to halt and reverse this effect."
The plan will also develop a detailed proposal for a national diesel scrappage scheme, which the Government would have to implement. The scrappage scheme, which pays owners to scrap their dirty cars, is supported by some MP's but other groups argue that the money would be better spent supporting public transport, cycling, and walking.
Alan Andrew, a lawyer at ClientEarth, said: "The announcement from the mayor shows clear ambition to clean up London's dirty air. It should send a clear message to the UK Government that a new, ambitious and bold Clean Air Act is needed so that the whole country can breath cleaner air."
However, Tony Devenish, a Conservative member of the London assembly, said: "We all want to tackle NO2 emissions but most vehicles built after 2005 perform just as poorly as those built before so the cut-off date is meaningless. Small business owners and 'white van drivers' with older company vehicles will effectively be taxed for travelling into the capital to work - that cannot be right."
Anna Jones, at Greenpeace, said: "Sadiq Khan is taking bold action to clean up after the car industry who have got away with polluting our cities for far too long. We now know that car makers lied and cheated about their emissions and were allowed to sell cars that spew out way more toxic pollution than officially meant to. We now need the UK Government to take their share of responsibility and force car makers to clean up their act."
