Transport decarbonisation plan ‘not ambitious enough’, minister admits

The long-delayed transport decarbonisation plan has not yet been published because the draft version was out of step with the government’s recently tightened emissions reductions targets, a minister has revealed.

Rachel Maclean told a meeting of the House of Commons transport select committee this morning (23 June) that a “final draft” of the decarbonisation plan had been produced.

In an initial document, published in March 2020, transport secretary of state Grant Shapps wrote that the final plan would be published by last autumn.

But Maclean, a junior minster at the Department for Transport (DFT) said the draft had not been signed off because it was “not ambitious enough” in the light of the government’s recently adopted target to cut emissions to 78 per cent of 1990 levels by the mid-2030s.

She said: “It was clear that it was not where it needed to be given how the world had changed.

“It became clear that we needed to raise the ambition.

“We would rather have a document that is slightly delayed but doesn’t fall short on very key priorities.”

Richard Bruce, director of environment and future mobility at the DfT, said the pressure on transport to deliver more emission cuts had increased as the headline targets had been raised.

He said that EVs are a “proven technology that is deployable” and transport now makes up the biggest source of overall emissions, having recently eclipsed electricity generation.

Maclean also told the committee that the department is due to be publish three further policy documents, which will underpin the plan, over the course of 2021.

These include a delivery plan, which will set out key government commitments, funding and milestones tied in with the 2030 and 2035 dates for phasing out the sale of petrol and diesel-powered cars and vans.

She said the issues addressed in this document would include whether to introduce a zero-emission vehicle mandate on motor manufacturers.

Another key document is an infrastructure strategy setting out an action plan for rolling out charge points.

Maclean expressed confidence that the electricity network would be able to cope with an increase in demand for electric vehicles and more power-hungry smart chargers.