• UK domestic target – 25% reduction in CO2 emissions below 1990 levels by 2010
(DETR, 2000)
• The DTI Energy White Paper 2003 adopts a path towards a 60% reduction in CO2 by
2050, following the recommendation of the Royal Commission on Environmental
Pollution (RCEP, 1994).
4.9 Road transport is responsible for 22% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions. The
VIBAT (Visioning and Backcasting for UK Transport Policy) project made summary
extrapolations of projections from Transport Statistics Great Britain (DfT) and Energy Paper
68 (DTI), which project that all transport emissions – under a Business as Usual scenario –
would rise by 35% from 38.6MtC in 1990 to 52 MtC in 203068. Over the same period all
emissions of greenhouse gases in the UK are expected to increase by 3%.
4.10 The VIBAT target is to reduce all transport end user CO2 emissions by 60% from a 1990 base
(i.e. an emissions level of 15.4MtC in 2030). Whilst ambitious, it is stated that this is around
the level required to achieve a future CO2 atmospheric concentration of 500ppm (depending
on other sectors). The project concluded that it will not be possible to rely on a scenario of
technological change (i.e. all new vehicles are hybrid by 2030, combined with considerable
investment in alternative fuels) to achieve a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030:
“The overall conclusion reached is that the 60% CO2 reduction target (in
2030) can be achieved by a combination of strong behavioural change
and strong technological innovation. But it is in travel behaviour that the
real change must take place, and this should be implemented at the
earliest possible occasion.”(p.18)