Better data driving better decisions will be crucial to the decarbonisation of the highways network – but too often, what is collected is little more than digital noise. Clients need to step up and take command by saying “this is what we want to do, this is the data we need, this is the form we need it in, and this how we need you to collaborate to use it”. This also means clients recognizing the value of data and being willing to pay for its collection and curation.

These were some of key conclusions of a Bentley Systems-sponsored roundtable, Digital Transformation and Net Zero held by CIHT on 31 March.

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We’ve never had so much data – the problem is its just data. The question should be “what problem are we trying to solve – then we can go back and source the data. We have the ability to quickly find a needle in the haystack but too often we create haystacks out of needles.

Steve Birdsall, Gaist

Armed with quality data, clients have it in their power to create a thriving market for low and zero-carbon solutions – but good intentions must be followed through into decision making. Bluntly, clients must be more willing to make commercial decisions against carbon benchmarks, drive the use of new materials, and demand consistent and transparent carbon reporting. 

There was consensus that roads will remain a fundamental plank of mobility for the foreseeable future. This made clarity on how to account for operational carbon from construction and maintenance even more important. Without it, highways businesses will lack the level playing field – and the confidence that comes with it – to make the investments needed to develop zero-carbon capabilities and offer zero-carbon solutions.

This accounting must embrace design, materials, plant, vehicles, and on-site processes. It also needs to shine a light on what is happening at all tiers of the supply chain. In this context, there was support for some form of mandatory carbon disclosure, perhaps backed by a National Carbon Audit Office. There were also pleas for CIHT to use its influence to bring some order to the huge and confusing range of carbon assessment and measurement methodologies being used across the sector.

It’s a minefield of terminology of what means what, It’s the same for data. It’s not always clear if we are talking about emissions from Capex, Opex, users…improving basic carbon literacy would be enormously helpful.

Kim Yates, Mott MacDonald

Participants were concerned that the proliferation of terminology and measurement systems were symptoms of a more profound lack of carbon literacy amongst the highways community. At its worst, this is undermining public confidence. Can we expect to be taken seriously if we put diesel vehicles on the road with “We are a Zero-carbon Business” written on the side?

Key for carbon literacy is a better understanding of the concept of a carbon budget. We need to be clear that this concept is not the same as a target for decarbonisation by some arbitrary end date – it’s a budget – there is fixed emissions limit that we can not exceed if we are to stay within the within the temperature increase limits agreed as part of the Paris Climate Change Agreement– once you get your head around that you understand why you have to do all the things set out in the Committee for Climate Change’s pathway

Mark Valleley, Transport for the South East

At the same time, while being more honest with ourselves, we also need to be more honest with the public. If the nation wants to reach net zero, politicians and transport professionals need to open up a conversation about changes to how we live our lives – and not all the measures will be welcomed with open arms. Some attendees argued that an unambiguous conversation was needed about greater regulation and coercion and called for road user charging to be placed firmly on the table as an option. Others, while agreeing that a car led recovery from COVID would be a disaster, argued for an approach based around providing people with realistic choices. COVID has shown that digital connectivity can reasonably be seen as an explicit mode choice. More radically, if the Scottish Government can make a policy choice to subsidise ferries so that living on the Scottish Islands is a viable option, should we extend that logic to subsidising active travel or making door-to-door public transport a reality?

If we are to open this conversation, the message does, however, need to be more consistent. People quite reasonably find it hard to understand why one local authority is aiming to reach net zero in 2030 whilst a neighbouring council is targeting 2050.

The biggest challenge is to get people to understand the need to make the cuts we need ASAP because doing them sooner makes more difference than doing them later

Jenny Bates, Friends of the Earth

Finally, the group were bullish that despite the need for radical change, there remained a viable business model for companies in the highways sector. This will need to be based on making a clear distinction between road building and road improvement. To get to where we need to be, we will have to adapt the network for net zero. This demand is already finding its way into practice, with, for example, surveyors expressing the condition of the surface in terms of its suitability for both heavier battery powered cars and vans, as well as bikes and scooters.

There is definitely a long-term business in maintaining and improving what we’ve already got. We’ve had paved surfaces for thousands of years. Now, we need to adapt them for cyclists, trams, and other different users.

Joe Rice-Jones, Bentley Systems