New publication: ‘E-bikes and their capability to reduce car CO2 emissions’ Authors: Ian Philips, Jillian Anable, Tim Chatterton In July 2020 the UK government published Gear Change, their strategy to promote active travel. This document mentions establishing a national e-bike support programme. Since then e-bike schemes have been introduced in a variety of locations. These … Read more
by Greg Marsden and Richard Walker This post originally appeared on Policy Leeds Previously in this blog series for COP26, Paul Chatterton laid down the challenge for urban policy makers to “act like it’s an emergency” in their response to the IPCC’s call for “immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions”. Here Richard Walker … Read more
by Richard Walker This post originally appeared on Policy Leeds “It’s a chilling moment” — Richard Walker, on secondment from the Department for Transport to the University of Leeds, speaks of his personal realisation of the scale and speed of change needed to keep to our Paris climate commitments. Here he reflects on what we … Read more
by Greg Marsden Drive Less? Who? Me? As local and national transport authorities work through the task of what decarbonising transport in line with the UK’s commitments really means we come to one inescapable truth. It means travelling less by car. Transport Scotland has written it down as a 20% reduction in kilometres travelled by … Read more
by Greg Marsden I was really pleased to see the Transport Decarbonisation Plan released on Wednesday 14th July. In 2008 the UK government set out an 80% commitment to CO2 reduction with no plan for transport. The result – no change in emissions. There are of course shortcomings and key questions which are unresolved (how … Read more
By Jillian Anable and Greg Marsden This post originally appeared on CREDS This week the Department for Transport (DfT) is expected to publish its long-awaited Transport Decarbonisation Plan. It will detail the steps needed to bring the UK transport sector in line with climate change legislation. The absence of such a plan has contributed to transport … Read more
Five fantastic new research projects have been awarded funding via our recent EPSRC DecarboN8 Network Plus seedcorn funding call and sandpit. Applicants worked with partners from different sectors to co-design research projects which responded directly to real-world transport decarbonisation challenges in the North of England, building in local knowledge and resources. We received a large … Read more
by Kadambari Lokesh Commuter journeys make up 15% of all journeys in the UK, the second-highest, next to shopping. DecarboN8’s ‘COVID-19 and travel patterns’ research team has published findings on how the Covid-19 travel restrictions effected commuting and carbon emissions in 2020. The study asks: What impact did the COVID-19 “work from home if you … Read more
By Paul Chatterton This post originally appeared in Medium Some reflections on how to build a safe, sustainable future In this article I reflect on one of the defining issues of our age — how we move around our towns and cities in a way that can support wellbeing, reduce inequality, improve quality of life … Read more
By Jillian Anable, Greg Marsden, and Iain Docherty This post originally appeared on CREDS As we begin the difficult transition out of lockdown, attention is already turning to what kind of stimulus package will be required to ‘reboot’ the economy. It will not be long before lists of ‘shovel ready’ schemes will be asked for … Read more