In recent years, climate change and achieving ‘net-zero’ have risen up the agenda on a local, national, and international scale. As the UN’s climate change conference COP26 gets underway, we offer an Insight into why it is vitally important we tackle the climate emergency, and outline the role Transport for the North can play.
Legislation passed in 2019 now requires the government to reduce the UK’s net emission of greenhouse gases by 100% of 1990 levels by 2050 .
This legislative requirement brings the UK in line with the international scientific consensus that, in order to prevent the worst climate damages, global net human emissions of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide, or CO2) need to reach net-zero by 2050.
We have seen many extreme climate events in recent years, from wildfires in California and across Australia, to flooding right here in the North of England. Last week, Honister Pass in the Lake District saw 300 millimetres of rainfall in just 24 hours, which had devastating effects on the community’s housing, travel and lifestyle.
In recent years, there has been a rise in extreme weather and climate events, with flooding and wildfires making distressing headlines across the world. Other impacts include damage to marine ecosystems leading to fisheries failing, sea level rise, increased risk to water supplies and a rise in global food insecurity, as well as an unprecedented loss of biodiversity.
Insurance company Aon estimates the economic losses from natural disasters in 2020 alone was around £200 billion , and this is likely to increase in coming years. The IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report shows that, if current trends continue, we are on track for 2.8 degrees’ warming of the Earth’s temperature by 2100 . This would spell disaster for human populations and animal species around the world.
‘Net zero’ refers to the emission of greenhouse gases and creating a balance between the emissions emitted in to the atmosphere, and those removed from the atmosphere. Clearly, this balance will only be struck by a combination of drastically reducing total emissions within the UK through reduced consumption, and renewable energy. These approaches will also need to be coupled with taking measures to actively reduce, or offset, emissions such as planting trees, restoring peatlands, and employing carbon-negative technologies like Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECSS).
The UK polluted 480 megatonnes of CO2 in 2019, with over 30% of the UK’s emissions coming from transport and aviation.
In June 2021, Transport for the North published the Draft Decarbonisation Strategy, which sets a challenging benchmark of close to zero emissions – less than 2% of our 2018 emissions levels – from surface transport in the North by 2045. The latest evidence from our NoCarb model shows that the North’s surface transport emissions in 2015 were 25MTCO2e.
This target reflects the ambition of our partners and their desire to push further and faster than current national policy, which sets a date of 2050 in line with the Paris Agreement.
Meeting Transport for the North’s ambitious target will involve a combination of policies and regulations that target vehicle sales, modal shift, demand reduction and improved fuel efficiency.
With the Decarbonisation Strategy set for final adoption by the end of 2021, we are forging on with a number of ‘low-regret’ activities to support all our places across the North in super-charging their own decarbonisation policies and action plans – ensuring every citizen of the North can positively contribute to decarbonisation and net-zero.
Read the draft consultation:
