Insight

The first page of the ‘place’ chapter in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan states “With strong local leadership and ambition these benefits [from greening transport] will be felt by everyone, everywhere. The government will continue to support such an approach through policy, regulation and guidance, and by encouraging strategic coordination and sharing of best practice across…

“I don’t think we’re very close to being sustainable when it comes to transport at all.  It’s all about convenience, if the world doesn’t change, then how is it feasible to walk everywhere….” This is the view of one transport user in a group we spoke to.  But it’s not an uncommon view. So how…

This was the third event in our series on Rising to the Challenge: What will it take to decarbonise transport? which took place on Monday 13 September. Delegates heard from: Hilary Chipping, Chief Executive, South East Midlands LEP Claire Haigh, Chief Executive, Greener Transport Solutions Jamie Driscoll, Mayor of North of Tyne Victoria Hills, Chief…

It’s over 100 years since the effect of burning fossil fuel on climate has been established, and for the last 30 years the UK and other Governments have been agreeing many policy statements about reducing transport’s contribution to CO2 production, and climate change. During that period the amount of CO2 emitted by transport has increased.…

Transport is not just about how we get around, it fundamentally shapes our towns, our villages, our countryside, our ability to connect with friends and family, our health, education and our overall quality of life. As well as defining the areas in which we live, transport is also the largest contributor to UK domestic greenhouse…

This was the second event in our series on Rising to the Challenge: What will it take to decarbonise transport? which took place on Thursday 9 September. Delegates heard from: Professor Stephen Glaister, Emeritus Professor of Transport and Infrastructure, Imperial College London and LSE Huw Merriman MP, Chair of the Transport Select Committee Claire Haigh,…

Few things astound me more than the fact that there are approximately 1.4bn cars in the world. That’s 1.4bn 1.5-ton machines made of metal, plastic, rubber, 99% of which are still fuelled by petrol or diesel. With approximately 5 seats per car there is enough capacity to carry around 7.5bn people. The global human population…

This was the first event in our series on Rising to the Challenge: What will it take to decarbonise transport? which took place on Monday 6 September. Delegates heard from: Professor Peter Jones OBE, Professor of Transport and Sustainable Development, UCL Claire Haigh, Chief Executive, Greener Transport Solutions The Rt Hon Lord Deben, Chair, Committee…

In the first of the Rising to the Challenge webinars I listened to my esteemed colleagues in the transport planning and policy professions discuss how best the nation might respond to the government’s Decarbonising Transport[1].  It was a good discussion but I could not help wondering if we are trapping ourselves into making it all…

It’s the economy everything, stupid How much transport is in your sandwich? All transport planners are taught on the first day of transport planning school that ‘transport is a derived demand’ and the public debate is beginning to recognise that our personal travel patterns are, to a large extent, designed into our built environments: famously…

Can we really decarbonise aviation by 2050? The Government’s Jet Zero consultation thinks not, but we should be able to offset the residual emissions. Aviation is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise: the expected lifetime of aircraft is over 25 years, new aircraft designs take around 10 years and the potential range of low…

Any discussion about transport and decarbonisation provokes a common response: that while it might be possible to decarbonise transport in cities, outside these there is no alternative to cars for any of the journeys people make and that any attempts to reduce car use outside cities are unrealistic and doomed to failure. This is not…