REACTION: Committee on Climate Change 2018 report – transport is the elephant in the Cabinet Room

In response to the 2018 Committee on Climate Change report, which criticises the government’s ‘marked failure to decarbonise other sectors, including transport’ and the ‘particularly disappointing’ continued delay of the Department for Transport’s ‘Road to Zero’ strategy, Paul Morozzo, clean air campaigner at Greenpeace, said:

“Transport is the elephant in the Cabinet Room. This government can’t live up to its claims to climate leadership as long as it backs a new Heathrow runway and stalls action on cleaning up our road transport.

“The car industry has a lot to answer for. Emissions and pollution from cars are much higher than billed, yet the government still fears to act.

“Both consumers and industry needs bold leadership from government, so we can reap the rewards of early action and don’t get left behind. A phase out date on diesel and petrol by 2030 can bring jobs, innovation, and cleaner air to Britain.

“The Government’s climate strategy is a plan based on nuclear power, conceived over a decade ago, since when cheap wind and solar have overturned long-held energy industry assumptions. Consumers would benefit greatly if the government caught up and allowed onshore wind where communities accept it.”

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