Road-building spree will derail UK’s net zero targets, warn campaigners

Hybrid vehicle pollution and van traffic update adds 26 megatonnes of carbon emissions to Department for Transport decarbonisation plan

The UK’s net zero targets will be missed because of a planned “road-building spree” by the Department for Transport, campaigners have said.

Officials had to edit the department’s “transport decarbonisation plan” to add 26 megatonnes of carbon emissions because of an oversight regarding polluting hybrid vehicles, and projections for an increase in van traffic.

Documents released by the DfT state: “Recent evidence suggests PHEVs [plug-in hybrid electric vehicles] are 3-5 times more polluting in the real world than in test drives. This adjustment raises baseline emissions. Post-Covid car demand has been lowered by 5% to reflect lower levels of commuting. However, the Department for Transport forecasts that HGV and van miles will be higher than that forecast … due to outturn data showing higher van and HGV traffic than previously assumed.”

Campaigners also criticised a new policy by the DfT which requires decision-makers to ignore the negative climate impact of road-building and traffic but to give weight to tree planting around schemes as a nature-based solution to climate change. It says an increase in emissions from road schemes is “not a reason to prohibit” their approval.

There are 32m cars on the UK’s roads, and they are growing in number and size. Transport is the country’s largest emitting sector and produced 24% of the UK’s total emissions in 2020.

Chris Todd, the director of campaign group Transport Action Network, said: “The DfT claims this new policy will ensure transport projects ‘meet environmental targets’. Yet it states that an increase in emissions from road schemes is not ‘reason to prohibit’ or restrict their approval.

Learn more: The Guardian