The original UK government transport policy on emissions control published in 2018 was titled the ‘Road to zero’. In the aftermath of the ground-breaking Paris Agreement in 2015, a global plan to restrict air temperature rise to 1.5 deg was agreed by almost every nation in the world, and to meet this goal through the elimination of around 40 billion tonnes of CO2 emitted to the world’s atmosphere annually.

This changed in 2017 when the 45th president of the United States announced he would withdraw the USA from its commitment to the agreement. 2015 was also the year when the 'Dieselgate' scandal involving the world’s biggest car manufacturer VW was exposed for having engineered and manufactured cheat devices to enable their cars to fraudulently pass emissions tests.  In the last five years vehicle manufacturers, government and regulators have pledged to ensure that the transport industry sheds its pariah reputation and becomes a driving force to meet the challenge of climate change.

However, currently any analysis of progress along this journey would reveal that it has been somewhat disappointing. One of the ways in which progress is measured is the reporting undertaken by the EU Effort Sharing Agreement and published by Carbon Market Watch. In the first two years after the agreement was signed Sweden is the only country anywhere near delivering on its National Declared Contribution and topped the leader board - but was still 40% below the required goal set in Paris. Great Britain was fifth on the leader board but 58% below what was expected.

It is understood by many that neither existing transport policies nor the pledge to bring forward the phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles are sufficient to hit carbon reduction targets or make the early gains needed to meet the net-zero targets for cars and vans.

HGVs are currently responsible for 27% of road transport CO2 emissions. Since 1990 these emissions have increased by 25% and, in the absence of new policies, they are projected to further increase, since every 426 litres of diesel fuel burned produces a tonne of CO2.

It is urgent that we drive less and stop buying products that travel long distances to reach our store shelves. If the current trends continue, and the world fails to improve patterns of production and consumption and how people and things travel long distances, the state of the world’s environment will decline rapidly. Just look at the floods in Europe and China and fires in America and Siberia.

Future actions necessary to navigate the ‘Road to zero’ and be on the “Road to somewhere” include:

  • The phase-out target date for non-compliant fossil fuel cars, vans and light trucks should be brought forward to 2030. It must include all fossil fuel vehicles including hybrids and be linked to accelerated investment in charging networks and battery development and deployment;
  • UK government action to fund the scrapping of non-compliant vans and trucks should be a priority. Over 250,000 commercial vehicles are below Euro-3 classification operate on UK roads and should be subject to a scrapping and replacement programme within a six-month window;
  • Much more emphasis should be put on travel demand reduction, transport mode shift and the role of lifestyle change. The experience from the Covid-19 mitigation actions has demonstrated a significant reduction in emissions can be achieved. Home working should be continued and encouraged and congestion on roads reduced as a result;
  • Acceleration of zero emission zones needs to be a key policy;
  • Dynamic road pricing – where charges vary by time and location – may be needed to sustain billions of pounds of fuel duty revenues, curb travel demand and tackle congestion. New home/base charging systems to be designed to identify specific vehicle charging and enable potential energy duty to be captured;
  • Serious consideration given to investment in road transport energy innovation hubs in the form of a ‘FreightPorts’ providing a range of services to truck drivers including parking, energy refuelling and accommodation/food. These should be located on brownfield sites vacated by redundant car and truck manufacturers on the edge of major cities and be the location where complimentary green technology businesses co-exist providing jobs for thousands of people who will be made redundant in the transition to electric vehicles.

Dennis Evans, co-author of ‘The road to zero emissions - the future of trucks, transport and automotive supply chains’

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