The Clean Mobility tool provides evidence-based policies for reducing levels of car use across different area types in the North. These policies are intended to support local decision makers in eliminating carbon emission from surface transport by 2050, and to do so in a way that provides economic, social, and health benefits.
Use the toolReducing car use is a necessary part of achieving the North’s commitments to eliminating carbon emissions from surface transport by 2045, and remaining within the total carbon budgets set by the Climate Change Committee and TfN’s Decarbonisation Strategy. These reductions are particularly important between now and 2030, when most trips in the North are expected to still be made by petrol and diesel cars.
As well as climate change, reducing levels of car use also connects to a number of other key policy challenges. Under a vehicle-led approach to decarbonisation scenario, time lost to traffic congestion across England is forecast to increase by 32% by 2050. As well as causing significant economic damage, this will have adverse impacts on health, wellbeing, and social inequality.
However, these significant increases in levels of car use are not inevitable, and the decarbonisation of the transport system offers significant opportunity for change. This tool provides decision-makers with evidence-based policies for reducing carbon emissions, reducing congestion, supporting local economies, and improving health and social outcomes.
The majority of carbon emissions from surface transport in the North comes from car use. In 2018, cars accounted for 59% of emissions in the North – resulting in 14.4 million tonnes of carbon. Even with a rapid uptake of electric vehicles, car use is expected to remain by far the largest source of transport carbon emissions in 2030. Because of this, without significant reductions in car use, the North will exceed the carbon budget set by the Climate Change Committee and TfN.
Despite this need, the decade leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic saw a significant rise in car mileage. In 2019, 61.1 billion car miles were driven in the North, compared with 56.4 billion in 2009 and 54.9 billion in 1999. This has been caused by population growth, development approaches that prioritise car use, the erosion of local public transport, and induced demand from additional road capacity. These factors have exceeded the reductions in car use associated with the growth of online shopping and communication. At the same time, while technology is making car engines more fuel efficient, the impacts of this for carbon have been limited by the growing popularity of SUVs and other larger vehicles.
The Clean Mobility tool allows easy access to high quality evidence and policies to reduce car use, specific to different area types in the North. Information is provided on the likely level of impact on carbon and other policy areas, the strength of the evidence available, and interactions with other policies.
Access the toolEffectively reducing levels of car use in the North requires different policies and interventions in different places – one size does not fit all.
Our tool provides policy solutions for five different area types, based on the rural-urban classification developed by the Office for National Statistics, and adapted to reflect the context in the North.
The most sparsely populated areas, with the longest travel times to key destinations, but with the lowest average levels of poverty and deprivation. This includes significant areas of rural Lancashire, Cumbria, Northumberland, and North Yorkshire.
Rural villages and towns of a range of sizes, including those on the fringes of urban areas. Typically characterised by poor public transport access to key destinations, often coinciding with higher levels of poverty and deprivation. Examples include Selby, Hyndburn, Darwen, and Sefton.
Larger towns and smaller cities with a significant urban and suburban populations. Public transport access to key destinations is varied, particularly outside of the urban core area. Examples include Darlington, Warrington, York, Carlisle, and Lancaster.
Smaller metropolitan areas, comprised of multiple urban centres, and some more rural outlying areas. Public transport access to key destinations is varied, particularly outside of the urban core area. Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and Sheffield are the only areas of this type in the North.
Larger metropolitan areas, comprised of multiple urban centres, and some more rural outlying areas. This includes Greater Manchester, Leeds and Bradford, Liverpool and Merseyside, and Newcastle, Gateshead, and Tyneside. Public transport accessibility is varied across these large areas, but is significantly higher than average.
The Clean Mobility Visions project developed from TfN’s Decarbonisation Strategy, and reflects three related needs:
TfN worked with Mott Macdonald to identify evidence-based policies to reduce levels of car use. This involved a systematic search and review of peer-reviewed academic evidence, This review was conducted by Mott Macdonald, with expert consultation from Professor Greg Marsden (University of Leeds) and Professor Glenn Lyons (UWE Bristol). A report on the methodology and outcomes of this process are available here. This tool presents the results of process, and combined this with modelled outputs from TfN’s Analytical Framework.
TfN wants to enable Local Authorities and other stakeholders to achieve significant carbon reductions, alongside economic, health, and social benefits. The tool supports this by providing direct access to clear and rigorous evidence on the range of policies that can reduce levels of car use.
This tool fulfils a number of actions from TfN’s Decarbonisation Strategy, which sets the regional trajectory to achieve close to zero carbon emissions from surface transport by 2045. This Strategy is subject to public consultation and agreement by TfN’s Board, and will be reviewed and updated in 2025. Alongside Clean Mobility, TfN is working to support the transition to electric vehicles, the development of hydrogen technologies, and mode shift in freight transport.
Our Decarbonisation StrategyIf you have any questions about the Clean Mobility tool, including how to interpret or implement the evidence presented in the tool or to recommend new evidence to be included in the tool, please email [email protected].
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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
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