All places in the North face different challenges when it comes to transport decarbonisation and many will require very different solutions if we’re going to achieve our collective regional decarbonisation ambition.

This page includes information and links to tools and guidance developed by Transport for the North to help our partners build carbon reductionsinto their Local Transport Plans (LTPs).

The preparation of Local Transport Plans (LTP) by our partners provides an important mechanism for helping to shape place-based decarbonisation. Through its Transport Decarbonisation Plan, government has committed to driving decarbonisation at a local level by making quantifiable carbon reductions a fundamental part of local transport planning and funding.

LTPs provide a mechanism to set out how local areas are proposing to deliver carbon reductions in surface transport, to help achieve local and national targets – and actually quantify these reductions.

What is Transport for the North's role?

Supporting the development of place-based decarbonisation pathways was identified as a key stakeholder priority identified during the public consultation on our Decarbonisation Strategy in 2021.

Our Strategy now includes a number of activities relevant to place-based decarbonisation, allowing us to support our local authority partners in developing their own local route-maps for transport decarbonisation.

The Department for Transport, within their Transport Decarbonisation Strategy (2021) have also been clear about the role of subnational transport bodies (STBs) in working to turn national decarbonisation priorities into actionable plans for their region. To facilitate this, DfT have supported the STBs to develop a number of tools to assist local transport authorities in the quantification of their LTP carbon reductions.

By integrating TfN’s QCR Baseline Dashboard with TfN’s Carbon Assessment Playbook (see descriptions below), and automating the underlying calculation methodology, the need for specialist support when defining policy packages should be significantly reduced, if not avoided.

Our Decarbonisation Strategy
Family of cyclists

Our Quantified Carbon Reduction (QCR) baseline dashboard

Our QCR dashboard provides every local authority within the Transport for the North area, with a carbon baseline from cars, LDVs and HGVs which can be disaggregated to understand where those emissions come from (e.g. by vehicle type, fuel type or time of day). It also provides future user emission forecasts up to 2050.

Access to the dashboard is restricted to our Partners (i.e. the Local Authorities in the North). Partners can gain access by emailing [email protected]  and including email details for all officers who require access. A link to the dashboard will be provided directly to those requiring access.

Users should refer to our ‘how to’ guide on the site when using the dashboard initially. Any further queries or comments on the tool should be addressed to [email protected].

TfN’s Carbon Assessment Playbook (CAP)

Our CAP is a ‘policy builder’ tool, which allows every local authority to test the carbon reduction impacts of different local transport policies and interventions upon their carbon baselines.

The playbook takes the baseline inputs from our QCR Dashboard, and provides every local authority within the Transport for the North area, with the opportunity to:

The CAP tool has been developed with the six other subnational transport bodies to ensure consistency on a national basis, with input from DfT, and has been signposted during DfT carbon seminars as a key tool for local and regional transport plan making.

Access to the playbook is restricted to our Partners (i.e. the Local Authorities in the North). Partners can gain access by emailing [email protected]  and including email details for all officers who require access. A link to the playbook will be provided directly to those requiring access.

A training video, containing a demonstration of the tools use, can be accessed from the playbook interface, as well as a User Guide and a Calculation Methodology Note. Any further queries or comments on the tool should be addressed to [email protected].

Developing our Clean Mobility Tool

Our Clean Mobility Tool allows local authority partners access to evidence-based and contextualised policy packages for mode shift and demand management, assigned by their appropriateness for different place types.

The evidence presented within the tool, can be used to augment local research to help create the LTP policy/intervention long list.

By using this tool, partners can ensure that their LTP reflects an evidence-based set of policies to achieve not only carbon, but also economic, health and social benefits.

Our Clean Mobility Tool

Our interactive EVCI Framework

Our innovative work on Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure (EVCI) takes strategy and planning in this area further, based on one of the richest data sets available.

It enables an evidence-based approach to move forward with implementation at pace.

Learn more
Electric Vehicle Charging parking space
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