The global challenge of decarbonisation of transport was the theme of the World Road Association’s UK (PIARC UK) session at Highways UK this year. Highways UK is attended by over 6,000 delegates so this was a great opportunity to share work that PIARC has been undertaking on the carbon challenge for the roads sector. The session was titled: ‘Inspiring decarbonisation through global collaboration’ and was moderated by David Ogden, and included the following speakers - Lila Tachsti, Simon Wilson, James Henry and Matthew Eglinton.

Providing a global perspective demonstrates the importance of, as the Chair of PIARC UK, David Ogden said – the need to ‘learn lessons from other countries and to share best practice’. 

Carbon neutrality or net zero?

A key presentation at the session was from James Henry who is chairing the project oversight team for the PIARC carbon special project. James’ day job is to design the government’s investment strategy for roads of strategic importance in England between 2025 and 2030. 

Reaching carbon neutrality is one of the main policy goals at UN level and in many countries. PIARC initially chose to consider the project through the lens of carbon neutrality instead of the more ambitious net zero target. However, the project found that actually most countries in the world have or are talking about creating targets for achieving net zero by 2070 at the latest. 

With the recent COP meetings there was a renewed sense of urgency when the United Nations Secretary General called on governments around the world to re-focus on climate change or "face catastrophe".

An early finding of the PIARC project is that, globally the total transport sector share of the total emissions range between 20 and 25%. This tends to be higher in lower-middle income countries, which tend to have a growing car ownership profile and continue to build its highway infrastructure. 

James Henry shared with delegates the emerging findings from PIARC’s work: 

• the need for road administrations to have a strategy; 
• the need for collaboration across industry (public, private, academia);
• need for procurement to drive net zero;
• to have the right data to quantify carbon impacts;
• for carbon reduction in both construction and maintenance and in vehicle use (shift to EVs and hydrogen);
• to support skills and knowledge of personnel.

Three takeaways

From the session I took three main lessons. Firstly, the need to approach the challenge from a systems perspective – all elements are vital, they interact and interface with one another. Secondly, the scale and pace of change required for carbon reduction is huge. Finally, the role of organisations such as the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transport in terms of knowledge and skills support.

James said: “Achieving decarbonisation is dependent on the knowledge, skills and behaviours of the entire workforce, from policy makers to the supply chain, since these personnel will be responsible for evaluating options, managing procurement and delivering the solutions identified. Basic carbon literacy is a minimum requirement for all personnel. There is also a need for technical knowledge to be developed further and shared widely”. 

CIHT’s work on carbon literacy is clearly something that, globally, there is a need for and demonstrates CIHT’s leadership in climate action for the roads sector.

One final observation, the message of international collaboration was further highlighted by Lila Tachtsi, the former Chair of PIARC UK, and Asset Management Director at National Highways who said that NH was engaging with Norway on sharing knowledge on procurement for net zero. So, looking forward, I would encourage people to look at the PIARC website and attend the World Road Congress in Prague next year to learn more.

Did you miss CIHT Climate Change Associate Andrew Crudgington’s recommended pathways to learn more about carbon literacy and climate change published earlier this year? Read his article here. 

By Justin Ward, CIHT head of policy and technical practice

Did you miss CIHT Climate Change Associate Andrew Crudgington’s recommended pathways to learn more about carbon literacy and climate change published earlier this year? Read his article here.