Galvanising political action on climate change

Today’s contribution to THE FUTURE WE WANT is by Lisa Hopkinson, Director at Transport for Quality of Life.

Last year the world’s largest survey on climate change found that the vast majority (80%) of people worldwide support stronger action to combat climate change. In the UK the figure was 84%. Moreover, people of all political persuasions think it is important that the government cares about tackling climate change – for example, a 2024 poll showed this was the case for two-thirds of  Reform voters and nearly 80% of Conservatives.

So why does this seem such a low priority for our political leaders? This blog outlines some of the numerous and interlinking barriers and how we can overcome them.

A key psychological barrier is what is known as pluralistic ignorance where individuals mistakenly believe that their own attitudes or beliefs are different from those of others in a group. So, despite majority support for climate action, the loud voices of a few and increasing media coverage of climate deniers makes us think otherwise. This contributes to self-silencing among those concerned about climate change and a brake on collective action.

Rather than talking about climate less, and self-censoring on net zero, we need to do the opposite and be more vocal about climate issues. Appealing to people’s compassionate values, rather than emphasising selfish values would help develop political enthusiasm for more shared, collective solutions.

There is a pervasive but false assumption amongst UK decision makers that growth is synonymous with improved well-being. Despite attempts to go beyond GDP to measure societal progress, GDP still retains its preeminent status in government thinking. Unlike Scotland and Wales, which have an explicit focus on health, wellbeing and inclusion within their transport strategies, the UK as a whole has a more singular focus on growth and productivity.

The irony is that the things that politicians believe will bring economic growth, such as building roads and expanding airports, evidence shows will likely do the opposite. Instead, investing in public transport, active travel and domestic tourism not only brings multiple social and environmental benefits but can play a key role in boosting prosperity in many areas of Britain.

Lack of funding for climate measures such as electrification of our railways, is often cited as a barrier. Yet we could raise billions of pounds for a world class, low carbon transport system that benefits everyone. Amongst other things we can reallocate transport budgets from climate bads (like roads) to climate goods (like public transport and active travel), increase or introduce new taxes and remove uncosted tax relief on climate-damaging activities (like flying).

While all of these barriers are significant, the most fundamental challenges of all are the political barriers. These include confronting powerful vested interests and implementing policies perceived as unpopular.

Fossil fuel and other high carbon industries (and their thinktanks) continue to lobby to weaken climate legislation and policy and spread disinformation. At the recent COP30 fossil fuel lobbyists outnumbered all delegations except Brazil. At a national level, we need to keep an eye on who is funding political parties. Desmog reports that over 90% of Reform UK’s funding between 2019 and 2025 came from “oil and gas interests, highly polluting industries, and climate science deniers”.

Even when politicians are aware that climate change is urgent and important they may still fail to act because of factors such as undue faith in technical solutions (like electric vehicles or carbon capture and storage), a tendency for group-think and a need to avoid blame or lose votes. The freeze in fuel duty since 2010, which has caused UK CO₂ emissions to be 7% higher than they would have been, is a good example of politicians repeatedly failing to do the right thing to avoid blame.

But there are also ways that these political barriers can be overcome. So, what do we need to do?

Firstly, we need to provide clear evidence that workable solutions already exist. This gives politicians no place to hide. For example, as an alternative to the Lower Thames Crossing, a huge £10 billion proposed road scheme linking Kent with Essex, estimated to emit millions of tonnes of carbon over its lifetime, the campaigners at Transport Action Network commissioned a rail expert to look at high-capacity rail alternatives. Their report, Essex-Kent Superlinks, sets out how for a fraction of the cost of the road scheme you could have a new cross river rail link at Dartford removing millions of car and HGV journeys off the road. This would deliver more in terms of boosting the economy, reducing road danger, increasing travel options for more households and decarbonisation. And the remaining 7 or 8 billion pounds saved could be invested in rail, trams, buses, active travel in other parts of the UK which have suffered from years of underinvestment.

We need to build cross-party political support, for example through Parliamentary Select Committees. The Transport Select Committee recommended in 2022 that the government come up with an alternative road charging mechanism to replace fuel duty. Polling done by the Campaign for Better Transport suggests both that petrol and diesel car drivers think it’s only fair EV drivers make a fair contribution to taxation (and road upkeep) and that EV drivers understand they would need to start making a contribution at some point. This combination of cross-party support and lobbying by NGOs no doubt helped pave the way to the difficult but welcome decision to introduce a pay per mile charge for EVs in the November budget. This was paired with a long-overdue pledge to increase fuel duty so the economic incentive to switch to EVs is still there.

We need to challenge powerful vested interests through increased transparency, better lobbying laws and direct campaigns. Who is advising Government on road and airport expansion, fossil fuel subsidies and other climate-wrecking policies? Government ministers met fossil fuel lobbyists 500 times in Labour’s first year of power. Yet this is only the tip of the iceberg as our lobbying rules are so weak they don’t meet international principles of transparency. They only cover registered lobbyists and face to face meetings with ministers, not lobbying by corporations, nor lobbying by phone or email, nor lobbying of civil servants.

We need to be straight with people about the profound risks of climate change. The powerful National Emergency Briefing held for MPs and others in November, laid bare the profound systemic collapse in societies if we don’t change course. An open letter to the Prime Minister called for all public broadcasters to provide an urgent televised national emergency briefing so that people understand the profound risks, which would open up the political space for action.

We need a stronger climate movement based on coalitions of a broad range of groups (e.g. health, poverty, nature) to drive political support, working together on issues of common concern. The movement needs to contain voices and groups at all levels with different tactics but with common values and a focus on climate change. We need the traditional advocacy groups to shape and influence government policy and where necessary mount legal challenges. But we also need radical voices to shift the window of political possibility. Although the climate movement has lost momentum in recent years there are still many good examples that show the power of collective action.

To end on a positive note, let’s look to Wales for some examples of what can be achieved with real political leadership. This report for the Welsh Future Generations Commissioner which proposed an alternative package of integrated transport solutions to the then proposed M4 ‘relief’ road, was no doubt influential in the Welsh Government’s decision in 2019 to scrap the road. A delivery unit was set up in 2021 to progress plans for new rail, bus and active travel infrastructure that would form a network of alternatives for South East Wales. Those plans are now being realised in the form of The South Wales Metro – an integrated network of rail, bus, and walking and cycling routes, which is currently being constructed in south-east Wales. By the start of 2026, towns, on what were known as the Valley Lines, will see twice as many trains an hour.

Rather than spending millions of pounds on a high carbon, environmentally damaging road, which would relieve congestion for a few years at best, the Welsh Government is instead investing in solutions which will provide enormous social and economic benefits for the people of South East Wales. This is how we build a fairer, cleaner, safer future for us all.

This article is based on the contributions Lisa made at THE TABULA PROJECT Roundtable Discussion Clearing Obstructions.  A full write up of the roundtable discussion series can be found here.