Reacting to Former Energy Minister 's Net Zero Review, published
today (13 January 2023), Silviya Barrett of Campaign for Better
Transport said:
"Transport accounts for a massive 38 per cent of the average
Brit's carbon emissions - more than housing or food or any other
activity. In addition to moving to electric vehicles, the review
rightly identifies the need to reduce car journeys, make public
transport more affordable and reprioritise funding toward
sustainable transport. But it's regrettable that these points did
not make it into the list of 129 recommendations [1]. The
Government must not ignore these crucial actions needed to reach
Net Zero.
"While action at the local level is also vital, the way local
green initiatives are funded is not good enough, with the recent
allocation of Bus Service Improvement Plan funding a case in
point [2]. The Net Zero Review calls on BEIS, DLUHC and HMT to
work together to deliver local net zero funding reform, but it's
vital that the Department for Transport is around the table too."
ENDS
Notes to Editors
[1] All of these points about transport are made in the review,
but are not among the 129 recommendations to Government:
- "Government should use the public engagement strategy
recommended above to communicate to people the need to reduce car
journeys and the benefits of doing this." (p. 229)
- "The Review recommends that the government commits to
long-term funding for active travel, to ensure that more people
will benefit." (p. 230)
- "Government must act to reduce the costs of public
transport." (p. 232)
- "The government should learn from the initiatives other
countries have implemented to reduce public transport costs and
consider how funding reprioritisation could help to deliver this
in the UK." (p. 233)
[2] In 2022, all 79 local transport authorities developed
Bus Service Improvement Plans, as required by the National Bus
Strategy in order to access funding. But in the end, only two in
five of them received any of this funding at all, and even they
received less than a quarter of what they asked for.
[3] The Net Zero Review can be
read on the Government's website.
