The Department for Transport (DfT) has launched a report aimed at accelerating the decarbonisation of Transport.
The Transport De-carbonisation Plan (TDP), sets out in detail what government, business and society will need to do to deliver the significant emissions reduction needed across all modes of transport, putting the UK on a ‘pathway to achieving carbon budgets and net zero emissions across every single mode of transport by 2050’.
The report says: “Whilst there have been recently published strategies’ to reduce GHG emissions in individual transport modes, the journey to net zero demands that transport as a whole sector moves further, faster. The TDP will take a coordinated, cross-modal approach to deliver the transport sector’s contribution to both carbon budgets and net zero.”
It goes on to say that technical measures, such as the need for rapid renewal of the road vehicle fleet with zero emissions over the long term. “But to deliver the reductions needed now, and set us on a credible pathway to net zero, we also need to consider how we travel and how our goods and services reach us today. This needed in parallel to the rapid development and deployment of clean technology.”
The report admits that the UK must act quickly to reduce its emissions, and says that instead of the dependence on vehicles, the Government must develop more policies to make walking, cycling and public transport the main means of travelling around the UK. “Public transport and active travel will be the natural first choice for our daily activities. We will use our cars less and be able to reply on a convenient, cost effective and coherent public transport network.,” said Grant Shapps, Transport Secretary.
“We can improve people’s health, create better places to live and travel in, and drive clean economic growth. The UK is a global centre for world-leading science, technology, business and innovation and we are perfectly placed to seize the economic opportunities that being in the vanguard of this change presents,” he added. “The faster we act, the greener the benefits.”
The report says that a priority efforts will come to support fewer car trips through a ‘coherent, convenient and cost effective’ public network and investigate how we might use cars differently in the future.” It will encourage cycling and walking for short journeys and explore how best to support behavioural change required to deliver this agenda.
