We Can’t Stop Climate Change Without a Transport Revolution – Tribune
06.11.2021
To combat climate change, we need to decarbonise all sectors of society as quickly as possible. At 27%, transport is the UK’s largest emitter of CO2, compared with 16% globally. It is also the sector that is decarbonising the slowest, at just -5% since 1990
The bulk of the emissions come from our dominant mode of transport: cars. The dominance is so complete that many of us reflexively get into our cars, without considering alternatives, even when more than half the time we drive alone, and as 60% of our trips are shorter than four miles.
The dominance of cars is in part the result of an ideology that pushes aside social and environmental consequences. Motor manufacturing became the most important industry of the 1950s and 60s, largely because its significant exports helped to stabilise the post-war economy, and it grew domestic consumption.
New advertising techniques created attachments to cars, driving so-called consumer demand. Car ownership became, for a time, a marker of affluence. By 1970, the motor industry and road haulage association, together with the AA and RAC, had become the most influential lobbying block in parliament. They still have significant influence today.
