The City of London Corporation is introducing new charges for on-street parking in the City—a city and county that contains the historic center and the primary central business district (CBD) of London, and known colloquially as the “Square Mile”—starting 20 August 2018.

The new parking charges will use RingGo’s Emissions-Based Parking product, which will target high polluting transport with higher charges while rewarding drivers of low emission vehicles with lower tariffs.

The initiative aims to incentivize motorists to make more environmentally friendly choices and improve air quality across the Square Mile by reducing NO_x and particulates.

RingGo’s Emissions Based Parking product will automatically assess the type of vehicle being parked and charge tariffs based on the level of pollution emitted by the vehicle. Although the product is being used elsewhere in London, the City Corporation is the first to offer a range of charges dependent on the vehicle’s fuel type.

The following tariff bands will operate on weekdays from 8am to 7pm when air quality is at its worst:

The RingGo app is a cashless parking solution. Motorists still choosing to use cash at a machine, rather than paying with RingGo, will pay the highest rate.

The introduction of emissions-tiered tariffs for on-street parking charges is one of the many measures being introduced by the City Corporation to improve air quality in the Square Mile.

City residents in the Barbican who use an electric vehicle now have access to 30 permanent charging points across the iconic Grade II-listed estate.

The Lower Emission Neighborhood project works with businesses through its CityAir Program while leading a London-wide crackdown on drivers who leave their engines idling. The City Corporation’s CityAir app provides more than 27,000 Londoners with low pollution travel routes across the capital, with advice and alerts when air pollution is high.

This year, the City Corporation launched a clean air cargo bike delivery scheme which helps the Square Mile’s businesses tackle toxic air pollution by shifting deliveries from diesel and petrol vans to cargo bicycles.

In 2016, the City Corporation agreed a deal with Addison Lee—London’s biggest private hire taxi firm—to switch hybrid taxis to ‘electric mode’ automatically in key areas of the Square Mile. The City Corporation has banned the purchase of diesel vehicles from its own fleet of 300 vehicles, where there is a clean market alternative.

It has also introduced a City-wide 20 mph zone, and its new procurement rules have brought in tight restrictions on harmful emissions from bulldozers and generators.