A new report from thinktank the Green Alliance has revealed decarbonising UK transport is possible but requires significant effort.
The report, titled ‘Mind the gap: Cutting UK transport’s climate impact’ notes that while mandates to phase out the sale of fossil fuel-powered cars will provide significant emissions reductions in the UK, the government must also ensure that it delivers promises to cut the emissions impact of high-emissions vehicles such as heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and coaches.
The Green Alliance estimates that current policies will result in 97MtCO2e excess emissions between 2028 to 2032 – equivalent to a full year’s worth of emission from all the cars, taxis, lorries and vans on UK roads today. However, with good policy interventions, greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by 105MtCO2e between 2028 and 2032.
As well as ensuring the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars is enforced on time, the thinktank recommends that the move towards electric vehicles (EVs) be accelerated by only granting private hire and taxi licenses for zero emissions vehicles from the year 2028.
The report notes that “millions of polluting petrol and diesel vehicles will remain on Britain’s roads, even if all new vehicle sales are electric from 2035. Accelerating the electric transition for vehicles that drive the most miles, such as taxis, delivery vans and cars used for work purposes, would lead to significant carbon savings”.
Furthermore, the Green Alliance suggests that economic incentives to switch to an EV should be ratcheted up over time, by increasing the rate of fuel duty over the coming years. This goes against current government policy; in a surprise to many, chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves used her first Autumn Budget to announce that the government would not be scrapping the 5p fuel duty cut, but rather freezing fuel duty for a full year.
A zero emission HGV mandate is also being recommended, as well as additional depot and road network charging infrastructure. Private firms and UK governments have already made some efforts in this area – Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners recently announced it had made a major investment into electric HGV and van charging hubs, while Transport Scotland last year established its own Zero Emission Truck Taskforce, which aims to electrify Scotland’s HGV fleets.
The Green Alliance calls the decarbonisation of HGVs “essential to reach net zero”, as HGVs emitted 19MtCO2e in 2022, a figure which the report states has remained largely unchanged over the past three decades.
Additionally, the report adds that more investment should be made into public transport, especially rail and bus networks. Buses in particular have been noted as a key target by many for decarbonised public transport, as their depot-based running nature lends itself well to charging stations, something which First Bus, Stagecoach and other bus companies have used to help decarbonise their fleet.
Finally, the Green Alliance notes that consistent concerted effort needs to be made on the behalf of the government to aid in the decarbonisation of transport.
The report states:“It is expected that the UK will achieve significant emissions savings in the transport sector through the existing ZEV mandate and the 2030 end date for new petrol and diesel cars. Even with these policies, there is still a significant gap in necessary action and more has to be done to address it.”