Greener Vision TKH Page 4

Reality check

Published on: 29th July 2021 by Glenn Lyons.

I saw a mention on Twitter that there are now two tribes when it comes to climate change: doomers and deniers. How can people’s views of reality be so different? Do the doomers need a reality check or the deniers, or both? A reality check, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, is “an occasion that causes…

The Transport Decarbonisation Plan: The work starts here

Published on: 26th July 2021 by Greg Marsden.

At 220 pages in length the Transport Decarbonisation Plan (TDP from here!) is a reflection of the huge scale of the challenge facing the sector to decarbonise both quickly and completely. So why, when we have just seen the launch of such a critical plan, do we need a Greener Transport Council and why did…

Worth the wait?

Published on: 19th July 2021 by Paul Hirst.

We finally have a Transport Decarbonisation Plan! But is it worth the wait? The UK government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan (the Plan) finally came out on 14 July. It’s been over a year in the making, delayed firstly by the COVID-19 pandemic impacting our travel patterns, then again at the last minute because the Transport Minister…

Planning for Zero

Published on: 12th July 2021 by Andy Eastlake.

It’s building up to be quite a moment for transport! If the rumblings are correct, we’re only days or even hours, away from learning what’s in the Government’s decarbonisation plan for the sector. It will need to be radical. It will have to enter areas of policy that haven’t been touched, or were deemed too…

Mission impossible?

Published on: 5th July 2021 by Claire Haigh.

The pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 78% by 2035 puts the UK at the forefront of international ambition. However, in its recent progress report the Committee on Climate Change highlights the gaping chasm between climate change rhetoric and policy. “This defining year for the UK’s climate credentials has been marred by uncertainty and…

Are the wheels coming off devolution?

Published on: 26th May 2021 by Claire Haigh.

Public support for devolution is growing at precisely the moment that enthusiasm appears to be waning in Number 10. This is extremely concerning as greater devolution will be critical for levelling up and decarbonisation. Speaking at a Net Zero APPG meeting last week, Mayor Andy Burnham described the recent local elections as the ‘devolution election’.…

Electrifying more of UK’s railway will help the Government hit its decarbonisation targets – this work cannot wait

Published on: 7th May 2021 by Lilian Greenwood MP Huw Merriman MP.

If we are going to hit our 2040 rail decarbonisation and 2050 net-zero targets, we need to get on with electrifying more of our railway now. As well as meeting its legally binding commitment to Net Zero by 2050, the Government plans to phase out all diesel-only trains by 2040. Most of our trains, over…

Decarbonising the way to rail recovery

Published on: 5th May 2021 by Phil Bulman.

With the target of achieving net zero by 2050, the rail industry has a lot of work to do. As TOCs prepare for the return of normal services, is there an opportunity to accelerate decarbonisation programmes at the same time? One year on since the publication of the Government’s policy paper on decarbonising UK transport,…

Re-charging Britain’s road policy

Published on: 28th April 2021 by Professor David Begg Claire Haigh.

We stand at a crossroads on UK roads policy. The more we incentivise the take up of electric vehicles the more it costs in government grants and the less revenue the Treasury collects in fuel duty. We are facing a black hole of around £40 billion in our public finances when the fleet is fully…

Rising to the Challenge

Published on: 31st March 2021 by Claire Haigh.

The climate crisis is already hitting worst case scenario levels that if left unchecked will lead to the collapse of entire ecosystems. Our thinking needs to change if we are to rise to the scale of the challenge. Transport is the fastest growing source of global greenhouse gas emissions and the UK’s biggest polluting sector.…

Transport decarbonisation – metal-heads, petrol-heads and the pandemic

Published on: 22nd March 2021 by Glenn Lyons.

I’m a metal-head. I understand it can be good to start an article like that – to connect with your base. Especially if my fellow metal-heads felt I might be looking to encroach on their/our beloved music (asking them to tone and turn it down, or worse still subjecting them to Radio 1). In fact,…

Floating toward zero carbon

Published on: 16th March 2021 by Steve Gooding.

I have only once in my professional life been described as an eternal optimist (by the then Transport Secretary Alistair Darling, as it happens, and I think a hint of sarcasm may have been in play), but in thinking about the prospects for the development of ultra-efficient, affordable, long-range, long-lived batteries for car and light…