Lighthouse | ICE Viewpoint
Decarbonising transport is key to reaching net zero
Transport has a key role in enabling the UK to meet its long-term economic, environmental and social objectives. However, the country is not on track to meet many of these goals.
Decarbonising transport is a huge challenge. Road and rail are the UK’s largest source of carbon emissions, but progress on achieving net zero has slowed over the past 12 months.
BY ART WE MASTER WHAT WOULD MASTER US
Reducing economic and social inequalities also depends on making transport more accessible and improving connectivity. However, poor transport infrastructure and services are holding back productivity and quality of life across England’s towns and cities.
To address these challenges the government faces difficult policy choices. It needs to constrain unsustainable demand for passenger and freight transport, while making access more equitable to avoid further disadvantaging certain groups and regions.
Developing a national transport strategy would be an opportunity for England to rethink how it plans its transport network as a vital public service. It could end the cycle of investment decisions that are blinkered, funded in the short term and based largely on capital cost.
Instead, a national strategy could focus decision making on how transport investment contributes to wider environmental, social and economic objectives.
Transport planning needs to be aspirational. Our system should get passengers and freight where they need to go in the fairest and most sustainable way possible.
A national transport strategy could deliver a sustainable, equitable transport network for England.
Civil engineers have a key role to play in addressing these challenges. Their expertise is needed to create connections that meet wider economic and social needs and to find innovative ways to reduce the environmental impact of transport.
Earlier this year, the ICE launched a consultation on whether England needs a national strategy to guide how it plans and invests in its transport network. It received responses from stakeholders and experts across the sector. There was strong support for a strategy to clarify the role transport should play in society and align investment accordingly.
Drawing on that insight, the ICE’s latest policy paper recommends developing a national transport strategy that outlines a long-term vision for a sustainable, equitable transport network for decision makers. It also calls for clear principles to help them prioritise projects.
Such a strategy would align England with Scotland and Wales.
“Poor transport infrastructure and services are holding back productivity and quality of life across England’s towns and citiesEach has its own national transport strategy, but respondents to the consultation made it clear that there is a strong case for a UK-wide strategy as well. After all, journeys do not stop at national borders.
But in the UK’s devolved landscape, it is more practical to first develop a strategy for England. This would help clarify the roles and responsibilities of the relevant national and subnational bodies and provide a framework for them to develop modal, regional and local transport plans aligned to national objectives.
A future review could then revisit the need for a UK-wide strategy – perhaps building on the work of the Union Connectivity Review.
Decarbonising the transport network while making access to services more equitable and responsive to the economic and social needs of the public will not be easy.
A national transport strategy for England is an essential tool in achieving those goals.
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