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| Tue, 6th Apr 2021 23:20:00 |
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Climate change: Carbon emissions from England's £27.4bn roads scheme '100 times greater than government claims', experts tell court |
Carbon emissions from England's £27.4bn roadbuilding scheme will be about 100 times greater than the government has claimed, expert witnesses have told a court.
The government has said the carbon impact of its "Road Investment Strategy 2" (RIS2) will be too small to be material, at just 0.28 megatonnes (Mt) of CO2 equivalent from October 2020 until 2032.
Under the plan, running from April 2020 to 2025, schemes will include the Stonehenge tunnel and the new Kent to Essex route called the Lower Thames Crossing - as well as 4,000 miles of road.
Environmental campaigners Transport Action Network (TAN) are seeking a judicial review as they claim the plan will not meet climate change commitments made by the UK government to reach net-zero by 2050.
Testimony from two expert witnesses, both of whom have previously advised the government, said the Department for Transport (DfT) "substantially underestimates the full impacts of RIS2" because it has only analysed parts of the project's emissions.
Phil Goodwin, emeritus professor of transport policy at University College London and the University of the West of England, told the High Court: "There is a glaring problem, on which DfT's witnesses make no comment, that the total emissions of carbon from RIS2 schemes reported by Highways England in its separate scheme appraisals give a number which is roundly 100 times greater than that suggested by DfT witnesses."
He said the DfT has not published an assessment of the "full impact" of RIS2 and the 0.28Mt figure only relates to five "new" schemes out of 50, not the "total capital/construction emissions".
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