In a detailed report released this week, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has urged the Government to target emissions from road-based transport and commit to reducing UK emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 34% by 2020 (relative to 1990 levels).
The cornerstone of the report is the development of clean energy infrastructure, which will provide the foundations for significant carbon savings through the application of clean electricity – specifically, the report highlights the potential for electric vehicles to help the Government meet its emission targets. The report offers an in-depth analysis underpinning recommendations which take the form of proposed carbon budgets covering the periods 2008-12, 2013-17 and 2018-22. The budgets are the first of their kind, and have been designed under the new Climate Change Act.
Ed Miliband, Secretary of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change said that the Government will give the report the consideration it deserves before responding, but that he was "pleased to say that from 2009, carbon budgets will take their place alongside financial budgets, and become pivotal to policy decisions within the UK." Lord Turner, chairman of the CCC, told reporters that the government should focus on developing clean electricity. "Once we de-carbonise generation" he said, "we can apply electricity to new areas such as road transport and the heating of buildings."
In relation to electric vehicles, the report states that with sufficient levels of investment, electrified cars and light vans could provide 'dramatic reductions' in emissions. By 2020, said Lord Turner, "we project that a significant proportion - about 40% - of vehicles sold would be plug-in hybrids or fully electric cars." However, the Committee outline the significant investments required in recharging infrastructure and improvements in battery technologies, which they say ultimately hold the key to unlocking the potential market.
It is also evident that major opportunities exist to reduce carbon emissions from petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles. Through increased efficiency measures such as advanced engine technologies and improvements in tyres, aerodynamics, lights and appliances, the committee suggest that vehicles powered by fossil fuels could become 30-40% more efficient. This said, their analysis shows that there is a 'physical limit' to the possible carbon reductions achievable by these means, and that the rapid global increase in demand for vehicles renders meaningful carbon reductions unachievable without the development of alternative fuels.
Along with electricity, the report highlights the potentially important role of other alternatives, such as hydrogen and biofuels. Hydrogen is felt to have more of a part to play in the event that developments in battery technology are slow to materialise. The Committee point to International Energy Agency (IEA) scenarios which envisage hydrogen vehicles accounting for 25% of the global heavy-goods vehicle fleet by 2050. The Committee also highlight uncertainty over the potential availability of sustainably sourced biofuel as a possible hindrance to their development, but point to their numerous potential applications, and cite IEA data which estimates that 26% of transport fuel demand could be met through biofuels by 2050.
The report shows that while emissions from cars have fallen by an average of 0.2% per annum since 1990, emissions from the transport sector as a whole have grown - due primarily to an average annual increase in carbon emissions from the aviation sector of 5.2%. The Committee, however, have not included aviation (or shipping) in the carbon budgets, and have taken the view that cuts should be achieved where they are most easily accessible and have the least impact on potential mobility. The report states that: "to the extent that international aviation and shipping emissions are not reduced by 80% [by 2050], more effort would have to be made in other sectors."
Friends of the Earth's executive director, Andy Atkins, said that while he was "delighted" with the overall recommendations of the report: "The Committee clearly acknowledges the major threats that aviation … pose[s] to our climate change targets - but it has fudged the question of what the Government must do."
BBC, CCC
