Climate Change Committee Tells Government to Consider Stopping New Road-Building Projects For Net Zero

Traffic moves along the M6 motorway near Birmingham, England, on May 18, 2020. Rui Vieira/AP Photo

Climate advisers have told the UK government that it should consider stopping road-building schemes as they say net zero targets are slipping.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC), in its annual update (pdf) on the UK’s net zero progress, has criticised the government’s 2030 goals for cutting emissions.

The non-departmental public body, formed under the Climate Change Act to advise the government on how to meet its legally bound commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 100 percent of 1990 levels (net zero) by 2050.

It identified four areas, in particular, that have the climate advisers “concerned” such as industry, transport, buildings, and fuel supply.

The report said that the government should consider a plan similar to Wales where all major road-building plans have been cancelled.

It said that the government should “conduct a systematic review of current and future road-building projects to assess their consistency with the government’s environmental goals. This should ensure that decisions do not lock in unsustainable levels of traffic growth.”

Wales

In February, Wales’ Labour-led government said that all planned road-building schemes in the country have been cancelled and won’t be built unless they comply with strict conditions that won’t cause more emissions or cars.

At the time, deputy minister for climate change Lee Waters said all infrastructure projects in the future must now “reduce carbon emissions and support a shift to public transport, walking, and cycling.”

The Welsh government will only consider future road investment for projects that pass strict net zero criteria, which means they must not increase carbon emissions, increase the number of cars on the road, or lead to higher speeds.

“This provides an example of how a sector-specific Net Zero test can be applied in practice,” wrote the CCC.

The CCC added that in terms of “limiting traffic growth,” the government has made no progress on its recommendations on clarifying the role of car demand reduction and “ensuring that key enablers (road-building decisions and taxation) are aligned to delivering this.”

CCC said that switching to lower-carbon modes of travel, including active travel, public transport, and shared mobility, is one “important means of reducing car demand.”

“There has been little progress on this to date, and concerns remain around public transport service provision, reliability, and cost,” it said.

It also praised 15-minute neighbourhoods and low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs).

This is despite the UK still set to ban new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 as part of its net zero push.  By 2035 all new cars and vans must be fully zero emission at the exhaust.

“The transition cannot happen through market forces alone,” the Department of Transport wrote in a report in May (pdf).

‘Our Children Will Not Forgive Us’

Climate Change Committee chair Lord Deben said that the UK has “slipped behind” on tackling climate change and said it must accelerate climate action.

“Our children will not forgive us if we leave them a world of withering heat and devastating storms where sea level rises and extreme temperatures force millions to move because their countries are no longer habitable. None of us can avoid our responsibility. Delay is not an option,” he said.

Ben Pile, climate researcher and co-founder of Climate Debate has previously told The Epoch Times that net zero policies have transformed the relationship between governments and people.

“They are putting their ideological agenda in advance of people’s needs and wants, and that’s going to hit a breaking point at some point,” he added.

Pile said there hasn’t been a public discussion about net zero, though he believed that people will vote against it if they had the chance and realise that it’s “the imposition of a radical ideological agenda for the transformation of society.”

A Department for Energy and Net Zero Spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email: “We can be proud of the UK’s record as a world-leader on net zero. We are going far beyond other countries and delivering tangible progress whilst bringing down energy bills with hundreds of pounds coming off bills from next month.

“The UK is cutting emissions faster than any other G7 country and attracted billions of investment into renewables, which now account for 40% of our electricity. In the last year alone, we have confirmed the first state backing of a nuclear project in over 30 years and invested billions to kickstart new industries like carbon capture and floating offshore wind.

“With a new department dedicated to delivering net zero and energy security, we are driving economic growth, creating jobs, bringing down energy bills, and reducing our dependence on imported fossil fuels,” the spokesperson wrote.

PA media contributed to this report.