Transport is responsible for more of the UK’s carbon emissions than any other sector - and its share is increasing.
One reason is that motorised traffic has been steadily growing in the UK and in London (see data here). Another is that electric cars are being massively outsold by SUVs, which are more carbon-intensive to manufacture and whose exhaust emissions are 25% more toxic than those of conventional cars. And electric cars are far from zero carbon.
The best solutions to transport’s carbon problem are public transport and active travel: walking and cycling. If people can be incentivised to drive less - and even give up owning a car, then, quite apart from reducing carbon emissions, we would all be healthier, have cleaner air to breathe and enjoy quieter, safer streets.
That’s the Imagine2030 vision: a more-or-less car free borough – enabled by protected cycle lanes; excellent, cheap, clean public transport; and every possible scheme for deterring the use of cars (especially SUVs): from Low Traffic Neighbourhoods to a car free Hammersmith Bridge. These resources provide the facts and arguments for that vision.