The UK Parliament Select Environmental Audit Committee report, published this week, makes for some disappointing reading. It reviews progress, or lack thereof, in regard to emissions targets to combat climate change, transport, tax incentives to increase energy efficiency, and the development of alternative fuels.

"Carbon emissions from transport are still moving in the wrong direction. The Government must use the fiscal incentives at its disposal to curb transport growth while at the same time ensuring that there is sufficient investment in low-carbon public transport systems-particularly in the development of new communities-to provide an efficient and effective alternative." (paragraph 4 of the Conclusions and Recommendations)

The immediate consumer issue of getting people to use public transport is challenged by economic trends: "Yet the real cost of petrol fell by 11% over the period 2000 to 2002 while disposable incomes increase by 9% over the same period.[45] The latest available data for petrol prices, covering the first quarter of 2004, shows that-despite the recent rise in oil prices-petrol is still at least 10% cheaper than in 2000 in real terms." The accompanying graph (halfway down the page) shows that the cost of bus and rail travel have increased approximately 50% and 70% in real terms, respectively, since 1974.

The difficulty in assessing progress towards environmental targets is noted in the report conclusion: ".For this reason it is difficult to come to any conclusive view on the extent of any shortfall between the savings which current policies will deliver and the absolute level of emissions we need to meet. However, as we have suggested, there are grounds for supposing that this shortfall might be more substantial than currently envisaged, and that the Government will need to adopt more radical policies and implement them with still greater commitment if we are to attain the challenging objectives it has set." (Paragraph 20 of Conclusions and Recommendations)

Full text of the Environmental Audit Tenth Report

CATEGORY: TRANSPORT