Your location: Home > Events > Past Seminars > Road Transport Seminar

Past seminars

Labour Party Conference 2005

Climate Change and Road Transport Seminar

12.30-14.00, Tuesday 27 September 2005

Venue: Sussex Arts Club, Brighton

Speakers:

Chair

Sponsors:

On the 27th September, SERA held a seminar fringe event at the Labour Party Conference to consider the policies and initiatives needed to ensure the development of low carbon vehicle transport, with delegates from Industry, NGOs and Government and keynote speakers Stephen Ladyman, Minister of State for Transport and Graham Smith, Chair of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership.

Road transport accounts for one quarter of all UK carbon dioxide emissions and will therefore have a major role to play in meeting our climate change targets. As Stephen put it, people are "wedded to the cars" - sustainable transport policy must focus on reducing vehicle emissions and developing alternative technologies and improving fuel efficiency as well as encouraging "smarter choices" and changing travel behaviour.

Stephen Ladyman set out the current government initiatives such as low carbon vehicle research and development grants, low carbon grants incentive to purchase, infrastructure grants for gas fuelling stations and car park electric charging point, referring also to the Chancellors 20ppl duty rate cut currently in place on biodiesel and 20 ppl for bioethanol since January 1st 2005. This has had a reasonable impact on the uptake of bio fuels, however many delegates argued that that industry advice and observed limited production, ascertain that this alone is not enough to kick start the UK biofuel industry or fulfil our UK and EU targets.

There was much interest from delegates over the possibility of the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO), which could reduce carbon emissions by one million tons per year, by requiring specified sections of the road transport fuel industry to demonstrate that a specified proportion of their aggregate fuel sales were 'renewable transport fuels'. The concept is that this proportion would start at a low level, say 1%, and increase annually until the EU targeted figures were achieved i.e. 5.75% by 2010.

Beyond a certain level car engines will need to be adapted to tolerate higher levels of bio-fuels. What can be done to develop new technology and greater fuel efficiency? Graham informed delegates of the colour coding system for vehicles indicating relative fuel efficiency and consumption, in car showrooms. The consumer-friendly label will help car buyers assess the climate change impacts of different cars, with the incentive that better environmental performance means lower road tax and lower running costs. The new label of a voluntary agreement by car makers following discussions with environment groups and other road transport 'stakeholders' under the auspices of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP).

The gradations on the label are also consistent with the CO2 bandings used for Vehicle Excise Duty ('road tax') to ensure that the environmental message is backed up by a clear fiscal signal: lower carbon emissions = lower road tax. The label also provides clear running cost information showing that lower carbon, 'climate-friendlier' vehicles are cheaper to run. However delegates questioned whether voluntary agreements would be enough to change consumer behaviour.

One delegate argued that we should consider bringing in legislation to ensure that environmental coding is mandatory on all vehicle advertising - since we have a health warning for cigarettes, why not have a climate change warning for cars? Although, legislation can take years to implement, it maybe necessary to complement voluntary agreements, if we are to meet the necessary levels of emissions reductions within the transport sector.

One delegate informed the seminar that surveys of advertising trends, show that predominantly these are for the most environmentally damaging vehicles - such as "Chelsea tractors". In the UK the current trend is that CO2 emissions from private vehicles are rising - not declining. Do we need a maximum allowance for individual car emissions, to be brought down year on year, which would also encourage technological development of more fuel-efficient cars?

There was a general consensus among delegates over the framework for developing a low carbon transport system - the three pillars: fiscal incentives, consumer compulsion and access to information and the need for voluntary agreements to be set within the wider framework of a bold government strategy for reducing road transport emissions. The publication of the climate change review will hopefully show that the government is willing to take bold measures necessary to bring about our climate change targets - we must ensure that these emissions reductions achieved in the transport sector and elsewhere are not negated by the burgeoning growth in aviation emissions.