Our Transport Decarbonisation Strategy is the first time a regional document of this type has been produced, bringing together the region’s leaders to speak with one voice on the actions needed to tackle climate change. It is the culmination of efforts from TfN and our partners across the North to create the tools, capability and evidence that will help shape our pathway to near zero emissions by 2045.
We and our partners believe that an acceleration towards a zero-carbon transport network must be at the heart of public policy-making and investment decisions. Our ambition for the North of England is to travel faster and further than national policy and maximise the clean growth opportunities that decarbonisation can provide.
While the focus of the strategy is on understanding, measuring and reducing the emissions from surface transport, and from the construction and operation of the proposed schemes within our Investment Programme, it is important that we also look to reduce the organisational emissions resulting from TfN directly as a result of our everyday business.
Transport Decarbonisation StrategyThrough our Transport Decarbonisation Strategy, we’re committing to a regional near-zero carbon surface transport network by 2045.
To achieve our region’s ambitious decarbonisation goal we need a clear understanding of the policies and measures required to bridge the gap between the expected levels of future emissions, and the targets for future emissions. Our strategy lays out the North’s minimum expectations for both local and national decarbonisation policy ambitions, and provides a framework for our partners and other organisations across the region to help them meet their decarbonisation responsibilities and ambitions.
At a glance | Transport Decarbonisation Strategy
We require a mix of technology, behavioural and place-based solutions to reach our decarbonisation targets. Our Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure (EVCI) framework will support planning for a comprehensive roll out of the charging points needed to achieve the rapid transition to Electric Vehicles.
Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure
Our vision is to see a system where every person and business has access to high quality, accessible and affordable zero carbon transport.
Our Transport Decarbonisation Strategy is the culmination of efforts from TfN and our partners across the North to create the tools, capability and evidence that will help sha
The tables in this Annex outline policy measure recommendations and actions for Transport for the North (TfN), National Government and TfN Partners to reduce surface transport
This report outlines the development methodology for TfN’s NoCarb Tool: a vehicle fleet model that produces a baseline estimate for surface transport emissions in the North
It sets out the responses received through the consultation exercise and identifies the key themes and sentiments emerging
At a glance is the summary version of the Transport Decarbonisation Strategy.
To understand the reasons for cutting carbon emissions, it’s important to understand the dangers of climate change.
The issue starts with the burning of fossil fuels, which causes carbon dioxide and other Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) to be released into the air. These act as a warming layer around the earth that trap the sun’s heat in our atmosphere and stop it escaping into space.
Since the industrial revolution, the levels of GHGs released into the air as a result of human activity have increased, leading to a corresponding warming effect on the planet.
Changes to global climate are already happening and are visible through the increased prevalence of heatwaves, floods, droughts and fires.
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.
Decarbonisation describes the process of reducing, and ultimately removing, the GHG emissions produced as a by-product of the functioning of an economy. It applies to all sectors within an economy, such as power generation, industry, residential and non-residential development, land use and agriculture, and transport.
It includes emissions generated over the lifetime of development, including through their construction, operation and also through their decommissioning, demolition or deconstruction.
It also includes emissions generated by the energy consumed to acquire, process, and transport the raw materials needed to produce the goods we build with, and that we use day to day in both our home and work lives.
The Climate Change Act (2019) commits the UK government by law to reducing GHG emissions by at least 100% of 1990 levels by 2050.
This represents the UK ‘s Nationally Defined Contribution (NDC) to ‘The Paris Agreement’ which was adopted in December 2015 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change.
The Paris Agreement aims to limit global average temperature increase to 2o°c above pre-industrial levels while also pursuing efforts to limit the rise to 1.5o°c.
Many of TfN’s partner organisations have declared Climate Emergencies and have set ambitious decarbonisation targets to reach close to ‘net zero’ within their spatial areas of responsibility and taking into account all or most sectoral contributions.
Within its Strategic Transport Plan (STP), TfN itself committed to the development of a Decarbonisation Pathway to 2050.
Net Zero is a term used to describe an end state where we reduce GHG emissions as much as possible, but still have a small amount that are unavoidable (e.g. from some areas of food production).
These residual emissions must then be ‘soaked up’ to achieve a balance where we are sequestering an equal (or greater) amount of GHGs than we are emitting. Methods to ‘soak up’ or sequester these residual GHG emissions include Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), tree planting, and soil carbon enhancement.
If the UK is to be in line with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and the UK’s 2050 Net Zero target, it is highly likely that the transport sector, excluding aviation and shipping, will need to be completely decarbonised prior to 2050 (i.e. an ‘absolute-zero’ target).
Through our statutory powers, TfN acts as ‘one voice’ for the North, communicating pan-Northern priorities to the Secretary of State for Transport.
Setting out decarbonisation targets and how we can achieve them is a key part of creating a sustainable transport network fit for the future.
While most of the responsibility for policy implementation lies with national and local Government, TfN operates at a geographical and institutional level that allows us to facilitate a regional approach to decarbonisation measures and research – something that has never been done before.
We are also working, alongside delivery partners, to reduce the carbon footprint of its own projects and programmes, throughout their design, construction and operation.
The organisation is also an advisory board member of DecarboN8, a research council funded network that brings together academic expertise from the eight most research intensive universities in the North. Together with the public and private sector, DecarboN8 builds an effective and integrated environment for developing and applying solutions to decarbonise transport across the North.
Our policy analysis work has revealed those areas of policy through which the most challenging emissions reductions must be achieved. These provide a focus for our proposed research, data and evidence-building activities in the short-term to 2025. Specific activities generated by this analysis are signposted as ‘Policy Gap Actions’ (PGAs).
Alongside the policy analysis, our exploration of activities which can provide the greatest potential for clean, green growth in the North has identified eight ‘Clean Growth Actions’ (CGAs).
A number of additional activities have been identified as priorities and refined through engagement with our partners, industry, research networks such as DecarboN8, and other Sub-national Transport Bodies, and these are highlighted as ‘Stakeholder Driven Actions’ (SDAs).
Given the enormity of the decarbonisation challenge and the risks associated with failing to achieve what is needed, the majority of activities around decarbonisation would justifiably be classed as ‘high priority’. TfN’s proposed Priority Actions are those activities which we believe need to happen in the short-term (up to 2025) and that are most effectively delivered at a pan-Northern level.
The public consultation provided insights on the priorities from different groups of stakeholders on different activities, and their views on the most appropriate role for TfN in relation to those activities. Further details can be found in TfN’s Decarbonisation Strategy: Consultation Analysis Report
Decarbonisation Strategy | Consultation Analysis ReportThe government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan proposes a clear role for Sub-national Transport Bodies to turn national priorities into actionable plans for their region and supporting the governments decarbonisation objectives by ensuring a coherence in approach across local authority borders.
A key component of this work will be supporting our partners in the preparation of their Local Transport Plans, specifically in developing quantified carbon reduction targets for transport (where these do not already exist) and the sustainable transport solutions that will be needed achieve these targets.
More on Quantified Carbon Reduction
Click on the links below to download our publications in relation to Decarbonisation.
Our Transport Decarbonisation Strategy is the culmination of efforts from TfN and our partners across the North to create the tools, capability and evidence that will help sha
The tables in this Annex outline policy measure recommendations and actions for Transport for the North (TfN), National Government and TfN Partners to reduce surface transport
This report outlines the development methodology for TfN’s NoCarb Tool: a vehicle fleet model that produces a baseline estimate for surface transport emissions in the North
It sets out the responses received through the consultation exercise and identifies the key themes and sentiments emerging
At a glance is the summary version of the Transport Decarbonisation Strategy.
Draft Decarbonisation Strategy brings together the region’s leaders to speak with one voice on the actions needed to tackle climate change. It is the culmination of efforts
Through the Northern Transport Charter, Transport for the North’s board has been clear that reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transport network, at a pan-Northern a
Our Decarbonisation Strategy for the North of England sets out the ambitious target of near-zero carbon emissions from surface transport by 2045. The tables in this Annex outl
This report outlines the development methodology for TfN’s NoCarb Tool: a vehicle fleet model that produces a baseline estimate for surface transport emissions in the North
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