Climate Change Policy Exercise

Climate Change Policy
Background to topic
The UK Parliament put in place a Climate Change Act in 2008 to limit UK emissions
to 80% of 1990 levels by 2050. As progress globally in reducing emissions has been
slow, climate analysts now believe that in order to limit global temperature rises to
between 1.5 and 2 celsius requires much deeper emission cuts. In 2019, the UK
Government updated its legislation to set a 100% emission reduction target.
Transport emissions have remained unchanged since 1990 and, combined with the
domestic heat sector is the biggest challenge for decarbonisation. There are three
broad categories of action which can be applied to tackle this issue:
 Avoid – reduce the numbers of journeys which we make
 Shift – shift journeys away from cars to walking, cycling and public transport
 Improve – reduce (and eliminate) the carbon content of vehicles through, for
example, electrification of vehicles and the electricity grid
The Task
You will be assigned one of the two extracts below to examine and discuss as a
group.
You should answer the following questions:
1. What is the statement arguing for (e.g. investment, subsidy, regulation
changes)?
2. What ideas (e.g. markets) and objectives (e.g. inclusion) are used to argue for
or against?
You should enter your analysis on the discussion board in the relevant thread. Other
groups will have been given text to analyse which takes a different (sometimes
opposite) position or which present the issue with a different set of ideas. Through
the discussion board you should comment on the argumentation presented on both
sides and what you see as being more or less valid and, importantly, what you would
like to be know to be able to take an informed position on these issues.
Introduction to Department for Transport’s Decarbonising Transport: Setting
the Challenge Document
This document presents an analysis of the scale of the decarbonisation challenge for
the transport sector and sets out a consultation/discussion on what the options for
change are. A final plan is due to be released in late 2020.
“The Government is developing an ambitious plan to accelerate the decarbonisation
of transport. The Transport Decarbonisation Plan (TDP) will set 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 us on a pathway to achieving
carbon budgets and net zero emissions across every single mode of transport by
2050.
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.
Technical measures, such as the need for rapid renewal of the road vehicle fleet with
zero emission vehicles, are well understood and will deliver substantial reductions in
GHG 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 is needed in parallel to the
rapid development and deployment of clean technology.
We will work with industry and communities around the country to develop this plan –
to make our towns and cities better places to live, help to create new jobs, improve
air quality and our health, as well as taking urgent action on climate change. We will
also consider how UK technology and innovation can support major changes to the
way people and goods move across the UK and ensure the UK benefits from the
opportunities decarbonisation presents.”
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/
attachment_data/file/932122/decarbonising-transport-setting-the-challenge.pdf
Extract 2: Policy Briefing by Transport for Quality of Life – for Friends of the
Earth
Whereas in 1990 transport accounted for less than a fifth (19%) of UK greenhouse
gas emissions, it now accounts for more than a third (34%), and transport carbon
emissions are flat-lining or even rising. Government departments responsible for
every other sector of the economy have cut carbon, but the Department for
Transport (DfT) has gone rogue, pursuing policies that actively make things worse
while being unambitious about the policies that could make things better.
…Because we have left it so late to tackle carbon emissions from transport, we now
have to take urgent action. Climate scientists are warning that the carbon targets set
by the Committee on Climate Change are too lax and that we need to reach net zero
emissions much sooner…
The current DfT carbon strategy is focused on electrifying the vehicle fleet, while still
allowing traffic volumes to grow, building roads and expanding airport capacity. But if
only 50% of new car sales are electric by 2030 (the government’s current aim), car
mileage will have to be cut by as much as 60% in order for emissions reductions to
stay on track . And even if all new car sales are electric by 2030, it will still be
necessary for car mileage to be at least 20% lower in 2030 than now (and possibly
more than this), in order for our emissions to stay within a fair carbon budget.
The carbon arithmetic is inescapable. It means that we must instigate a rapid
transformation of our transport system to reduce car use, as well as achieving a
faster transition from petrol and diesel to electric cars and significantly cutting
aviation emissions.
Rapid action to reduce car use will only be fair and command public consent if it
takes place in parallel with big changes to our transport system that give people
decent, clean and affordable ways of travelling to work, education and services, by
foot, bike or low-carbon public transport. So in order to be able to meet our obligation
to act on climate change, we need to recognise a basic right for everyone to be able
to live decently without having to own or drive a car. A transport system for a zero-
carbon future must therefore be:
 Universal: available to everyone
 Comprehensive: the best possible service for all areas, within available
resources
 Affordable: low-cost, and free for essential local travel
 Green: consistent with our obligation to cut carbon emissions to zero in line
with the Paris Agreement and to minimise other environmental impacts.
This paper explores how to change our transport system to meet these principles,
how to pay for it, and how to create the right governance to deliver it
https://policy.friendsoftheearth.uk/insight/radical-transport-response-climate-
emergency

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