Insight

Net zero policy in the UK has hit a new low. Before the cries of indignation – yes, it is true that the UK once had a record to be proud of. We were the first advanced economy to commit to net zero by 2050, our economy has grown by 65% whilst emissions reduced by…

2022 was our hottest year on record, with an unprecedented number of heat-related deaths, wildfires and infrastructure disruptions.  2023 looks set to be still worse.  But our response is not yet requisite to the scale of the challenge.  Climate change is an existential threat which we have become strangely accustomed to living with. Transport is…

The recent publication of my analysis of the downgrading of transport decarbonisation ambition as set out in the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan (Reverse Gear) is a pretty depressing read. 72% of the ambition for change set out in 2021 seemingly set aside. The analysis shows that, even with the ZEV Mandate emissions from vehicles will…

The past eight years have been the hottest in recorded history.  Despite achieving an historic breakthrough on a new “loss and damage” fund, COP27 failed to move the dial on reducing emissions. We are nowhere near the scale of change needed.  As the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres put it: “We are in the fight…

Our climate is heating up at great speed.  China is experiencing the longest sustained heatwave and drought in its history.  Catastrophic flooding has left more than 1,300 people dead and a third of Pakistan under water.  Half of Europe is in drought.  Meanwhile, Putin is using the supply of gas to Europe as a weapon…

We must start by facing the truth. Government policy will not deliver net zero.  Nor will everything in our current arsenal of policies and measures. Achieving net zero carbon is a major national and global challenge, and one that cannot be met by any sector acting alone.  Global greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by…

The IPCC have warned that it’s “now or never” if world is to stave off climate disaster.  We already look set to overshoot the 1.5C target. In carefully calibrated messaging, the IPCC’s latest report highlights the enormous scale of the challenge but that we have the tools and the knowhow required.  Lifestyle changes offer significant…

The latest IPCC report has been described as ‘an atlas of human suffering’. Climate impacts are worse than predicted.  Extreme weather events are accelerating. No region is safe. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a livable future. The report’s publication last week would have…

Climate change is no longer a distant threat.  As we experience extreme weather events of increasing ferocity and frequency, we can hear its impacts knocking ever more loudly and insistently on our door. Have we heard the wake-up call?  COP26 was a partial success in that it kept the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius alive. …

We are a group of leading professionals in the transport and planning sectors who together support the UK Government’s commitment to decarbonising our economy while sharing a deep concern that much greater urgency and action is needed to address the challenge society faces. Our focus is upon what we believe the Government must do if…

As I write the current fuel ‘crisis’ has seen forecourts up and down the country closed as supplies ran out in the wake of panic buying that saw long queues of drivers anxious to ensure that their tanks were full to the brim. Those queues were a stark visual reminder of the scale of our…

How does business and the workplace become carbon neutral by 2050? This is not a topic which is well covered. Last week, Addleshaw Goddard teamed up with Atkins to deliver a workshop on the responsibility and role of the workplace to cut carbon emissions. This was part of the online DecarboN8 conference which brought together…