Greener Vision TKH Page 5

Why Do Some Environmentalists Oppose Decarbonisation of Vehicles?

Published on: 26th February 2021 by Dr Steve Melia.

Options for removing carbon from the atmosphere are limited so, for most sectors of the economy, net zero means absolute zero. For surface transport, absolute zero means that all remaining vehicles must be zero-carbon in their use, their manufacture and their disposal. Those are not my opinions; they are statements of fact, but in stating…

Road Pricing and the role of the car as we head towards Net Zero Emissions

Published on: 23rd February 2021 by David Tucker.

In 2018 -19 road vehicles raised approximately £40bn in taxation (6.3% of total government revenue). This was made up of £28bn Fuel duty, £5.7bn VAT on fuel and £6.5bn VED (Vehicle Excise Duty). This is equivalent to £1000 per licensed vehicle per year or 12p per mile. With government’s decision to end the sale of…

To reach net zero in transport, Partnership is more important than ever

Published on: 18th February 2021 by Andy Eastlake.

Now ‘low’ is no longer enough, so today LowCVP becomes Zemo Partnership to accelerate the transition in transport to zero emissions. Twenty years ago, with the Kyoto Protocol ink still wet, the UK Government took early initiatives to lead the way on climate change. With road transport then just 22% of the nation’s overall greenhouse…

Glasgow is turning green

Published on: 17th February 2021 by Sarah Baillie.

In November 2021 the world’s eyes will be on the city as it hosts the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26; and decision-makers are trying to make long-standing changes to its transport systems to help support net zero ambitions. In 2019 Glasgow City Council (GCC) set up a Climate Emergency Working Group, subsequently declaring…

Incorporating the “No Travel Option” in Mobility Planning

Published on: 16th February 2021 by Giles K Bailey.

2020 resulted in many global changes due to the impact of the Covid19 crisis. The impact on transport was particularly severe. The need for social isolation and lockdowns has accelerated the earlier gradual trends to flexible working and, for many, working from home. Thus, we have been faced with a suppression of movement and a…

Road pricing is essential: we must face down the ghosts of past failure

Published on: 11th February 2021 by Thomas Ableman.

“Never let a good crisis go to waste”, as Winston Churchill may once have said. Covid has been a disaster for public transport but it also made the unthinkable, thinkable. And when the health crisis ends, the debt crisis begins. Covid caused an increase in public sector debt equivalent to the total debt when I…

Public transport must have a future after the pandemic

Published on: 9th February 2021 by Professor Corinne Mulley Professor John Nelson.

The role of transport has always been to bring people together. From early days transport underpinned urban creation through people coming together to exchange/market goods. Today transport underpins much of what we regard as fundamental to civilised society – the way to include citizens in society through accessing essential goods and services as well strengthening…

Can National Road Pricing Survive ‘Real Politics’?

Published on: 1st February 2021 by Dr Steve Melia.

In November, an anonymous government source told the Times that Chancellor Rishi Sunak was considering national road pricing to fill a “£40 billion tax shortfall created by the switch to electric cars.” A month later, the Transport Committee of the House of Commons launched an inquiry into Zero Carbon Vehicles and Road Pricing. We have…

Decarbonising transport: what will it really take?

Published on: 25th January 2021 by Paul Campion.

“As with anything unpleasant, the sooner you start, the sooner it will be over”. This is the sort of thing I probably said to my children as they hesitated on the brink of one or other of life’s daunting little challenges; jumping into a swimming pool for the first time, or filling in a tax…

Who will be the first local authority to cross the Rubicon?

Published on: 21st January 2021 by Professor Laurence Pickup.

The Rubicon was not a large river for Julius Caesar to cross in January 49 B.C. The river flows from the Apennines in Central Italy into the Adriatic Sea, close to the modern resort of Rimini and in those times it marked the Northern boundary of Roman territory. However the significance of that simple action…

The Green Road Ahead?

Published on: 14th January 2021 by Stuart Thomson.

The role of transport in the delivery of the climate change agenda is fundamental. The Government has made a series of high-profile announcements, not least bringing forward the date for ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans to 2030. But detail on delivery is lacking and that is what makes the…

A fair transition in transport

Published on: 21st December 2020 by Tim Anderson.

Ambitious decarbonisation targets are now set in stone, with net zero by 2050 ingrained in our consciousness, along with the more challenging target of 2030 for the ban of new petrol and diesel car sales. These targets give us something to work towards and highlight that the UK is leading the way on setting ambitious…