Government’s weakening of sustainability reports “deeply concerning”

The Environmental Audit Committee has published a report stating that the Department for Transport needs a clear strategy to increase the uptake in use of ultra-low emission vehicles; cut air pollution and resolve the Volkswagen emissions scandal in order to meet decarbonisation and air quality targets.

The ‘Sustainability in the Department for Transport’ report says that the Department for Transport has the opportunity build on its successes on sustainability and to take the lead in encouraging other government departments and local authorities on the use of sustainable transport.

However, in order to do this the report says it must improve how it communicates its commitment and progress updates. Its Single Departmental Plan fails to sufficiently identify what the results would be from the commitments it has made. The Department’s Annual Report should also provide a greater understanding of its performance against targets set by the government and others on decarbonisation and renewable energy use.

The report says this “weakening” of sustainability reporting appears to be a trend amongst all government departments and described the situation as “deeply concerning”.

Following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, this will take on more importance, as investors will require more clarity regarding the government’s environmental policy.

The report says that the Department for Transport needs to show more ambition in its attempts to increase uptake of ultra low emission vehicles (ULEV) in the short term and also outline its plans for the sector in the medium term post-2020.

The report says that it has “no confidence” that the UK will be able to achieve a 60% ULEV market share by 2030. It calls on the Department for Transport to create polices that incentivise ULEV uptake:

‘We recommend the Government set out in its response to this report its assessment of the following proposals: changing light van licensing conditions to take into account the additional weight of a battery and/or hydrogen tank to enable makers to produce such vehicles; supporting ULEV fleet procurementby underwriting risk or guaranteeing buy-back; helping workplaces invest in charging points; and introducing a national grant scheme for ULEV taxis beyond 2020 to reduce their price. It should also produce a timetable, setting out how and when it intends to incentivise further take-up of ULEVs and what targets its commitments are intended to meet.’

A clearer remit should also be given to local government with regards to investing in sustainable transport to improve air quality. The report says this can be achieved by “reassessing the weight it accords to sustainability, in terms of NOx emissions in particular, and the emphasis it places on economic benefits.”

It also recommends that a more detailed idea of the total impact of its transport projects on sustainability. This would prevent any single justification for environmental impacts such as net biodiversity loss from one project being repeated.

The government should also put pressure on Volkswagen to speed up its recall programme to replace cheat devices. The report recommends that the Competition and Markets Authority, the Serious Fraud Office and the Transport Secretary accelerate their investigations into the carmaker to determine whether legal action can be taken against it.

The report also makes the recommendation that Network Rail be subject to the Greening Government Commitments to reduce the environmental impact of its operations once it has ben set realistic decarbonisation targets.

The Freight Transport Association welcomed the findings of the report, with FTA’s Head of National and Regional Policy, Christopher Snelling, commenting: “The Committee is right that more support will be needed for the purchasers of ultra-low emission vehicles if they are to take off in the market place as soon as possible.  The suggestion of considering reforming weight limitations on alternatively powered vans is welcome and should be explored further – subject to demonstrating it would not have a negative effect on safety”.

“The missing piece in the report is heavy duty vehicles.  From an engineering and technological point of view it is harder to decarbonise larger road vehicles – electric is not an option.  Trials of alternative power sources for lorries were made under the Government’s Low Carbon Truck Trial and a further low emission freight and logistics trial has recently been announced, but more fiscal support will be needed if these new vehicles are to get taken up by purchasers any time soon.  Currently alternatively powered vehicles only make up 0.2 per cent of the UK’s HGV fleet.”

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