Roads to net zero was the theme of the 2025 CIHT National Conference, held in London on the 13 May 2025.

Professor Glenn Lyons, President, CIHT and Mott Macdonald Professor of Future Mobility at UWE welcomed people to the conference and was the chair of the morning session.

Ministerial interview

The event opened with an interview between Lilian Greenwood MP,  Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Future of Roads) conducted by Sue Percy, CEO, CIHT.  

This provided the latest insights into transport with an insight from the Minister on how transport can deliver against all of the Government's missions. The Minister noted that transport plays a key role in everyone's lives and when it comes to decarbonisation, active travel and a shift to public transport will be one of the key measures in achieving this.  As a result, the transport sector can positively support the health mission of the government.

The Minister outlined plans to support the shift to electric vehicles encompassed two main elements.  Firstly, that setting the target to phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030.  Secondly, to increase in the provision of charging infrastructure for EV's. 

Pathway to Net Zero for Surface Transport

The next session provided more details around the Pathway to Net Zero for Surface Transport from the Climate Change Committee. Louis Worthington, Team Leader – Infrastructure provided details of the measures required to get to net zero emissions by 2050.

In terms of Carbon Budget 7 - running from 2038-2042 - the aim is that emissions are halved and all carbon budgets are achieved.  This will be driven by electricity supply and as Louis Worthington went on to explain throughout his presentation this pathway is predominantly driven by a transition to modern, efficient, and fundamentally better technologies.

National & strategic roads policy context on decarbonisation

The next session focused on the national & strategic roads policy context on decarbonisation; although all of the four nations are moving towards net zero, interesting distinctions were noted. 

Emma Ward, Director  General  Road  Transport  Group, Department for Transport highlighted measures to support the roll-out of EV infrastructure charging and other measures for decarbonisation.

Andy Falleyn, Deputy Director and Chief Highway Engineer, Welsh Government noted that the Future Well-being Future Generations Act in Wales and the Roads Review have impacted choices made in Wales.   The Active Travel Plan (2024 – 2027) sets out the stages to increase the active travel in Wales, therefore decreasing vehicle use and related emissions: 45% of journeys to be made by public transport, walking and cycling by 2040.  WeITag objective – transport projects funded by the WG must help reduce carbon emissions from transport through improving existing infrastructure, encouraging behaviour change, reducing the need to travel or through new infrastructure. 

In Northern Ireland, David Porter, Director  of  Engineering  and  Chief Highway  Engineer, Department for Infrastructure, Northern Ireland noted that The Climate Change Act 2022 imposed a statutory duty on the Department for Infrastructure to develop a Transport Sectoral Plan setting out how it intended for the transport sector to contribute to the achievement of greenhouse gas emissions targets set in the Act. It also stipulated that the Transport Sectoral Plan should “set a minimum spend on active travel from the overall transport budget of 10 per cent”.

In Scotland, through the video from Fiona Brown, Interim Director, Transport Strategy and Analysis, Transport Scotland - among other measures - behaviour change was highlighted.  Fiona said it was about changing how and why we chose to travel and that this encompasses a change in individual, community, businesses and consumer choices. It can be influenced by policies which incentivises mode shift, such as our provision of free bus travel for under-22s which have provided over 200 million free bus journeys across Scotland since being introduced; disincentivises unnecessary or unsustainable travel such as through low emission zones and improve efficiency of travel for both people and goods. 

Sustainability Challenge

The next session was introduced by Chris Harper, Practice Director, Sustainable Futures, AtkinsRéalis.  

Stephen Elderkin, Director of Environmental Sustainability, National Highways then highlighted what was involved with delivering an environmentally sustainable National Highways.  By 2030 corporate emissions should be net zero, by 2040 the aim is for maintenance and construction emissions to be net zero, and by 2050 road user emissions should be net zero.  Stephen also outlined how the highways sector has a significant role to play in nature recovery to create a sustainable, resilient and more effective ecology network for England.

Microplastics – A Growing Concern was the next focus with Matt Tompsett, Head of Environment and Sustainability, Kier Transportation outlining how microplastics are everywhere:  from the top of Everest to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Matt then outlined steps for nature based solutions to microplastics removal - a necessity given our highways networks are one of (if not the) biggest source of microplastic (MP) in coastal and surface waters.

Donna James, Technical Director, Digital Asset Management AtkinsRéalis then outlined research and how collaboration was key to delivering Low Carbon Technologies.  Donna presented a range of Innovative Low Carbon Site Trials:

A30 Cutteridge – bio-based binder (x2)
A12 Hatfield – graphene modified asphalt and up to 40% RA
A34 Chieveley and A2 Kingston – bio-based binder, WMA and up to 30% RA
A21 Back Lane – 50% RA and bio-rejuvenator

In terms of one of the trials the carbon footprint saving was 23%.  This was for the first bio-binder surface course trial on SRN that was successfully installed in February 2023.  

Devolution and local delivery of net zero

The afternoon opened with a welcome from Abie Hearn from Ringway starting with coverage of how global challenges must also be delivered at a local level. 

Anne Shaw, Executive Director, Transport for the West Midlands outlined how devolution provides an opportunity to achieve more and this involves understanding people and what solutions will work for them.  For instance, buses are the main form of public transport in the West Midlands and encouraging behaviour change to deliver increased bus use to help reduce car dependency and investment in the fleet is very important.

Ann Carruthers, President, ADEPT and Director of Environment and Transport, Leicestershire County Council was able to provide an insight into the ADEPT Live Labs 2 programme.  

The session concluded with a presentation by Rupert Clubb, Director of Communities, Economy and Transport, East Sussex County Council that recongised the political realities of transport.

Effective partnerships and collaboration on delivery

The next session provide an overview from the supporters for the conference. 

Zoe Stirling-Wall,Carbon Manager, Brightly Software outlined an innovative tool that enables organisations to accurately assess their current carbon footprint and identify opportunities for carbon reduction and decarbonisation.

Do we have the skills to deliver against government targets? This question was then explored by Blayne Cahill, Director Rail, Highways & Infrastructure, Carrington West.  Although budget constraints was highlighted, there were positive messages from Blayne who has an insight into the perspective from recruiters: when hiring for permanent staff, clients do prioritise sustainability related skills more.

John Warne , Business Development & Marketing Director, WJ Group then presented on the Road Marking Asset Management and Planning Tool (RAMP). 

The supply chain is key to achieving net zero, so it was interesting to hear about Winvic Constructions green supply chain initiative. Neave Thompson, Senior Sustainability Manager, Winvic Construction explained that this has requirements around upfront embodied carbon, operational carbon, and social value.

How to deliver growth with decarbonisation

Glenn Lyons joined the stage again for the final session. As Glenn said:  "The title of our session makes me nervous. ‘How to deliver growth with decarbonisation?’.Let’s consider the interpretation of that question. Does it mean ‘how to deliver growth and not be too environmentally damaging in the process?’ Or does it mean ‘how to deliver growth that fully squares with environmental priorities including adaptation and mitigation of climate change as well as addressing the biodiversity crisis? Or is it something ambiguous in between?"

The panel then unpicked this question involving contributions and engaging perspectives from Steve Gooding, Director, RAC Foundation; Kim Yates, Director - Climate Change and Sustainability, Mott MacDonald; and Rob Singleton, Head of Planning, Housing and Transport , Department for Transport.

The ending message was one of a spring in your step where the conclusion was that the challenge of net zero is complicated and challenging but is possible to achieve.  

Sue Percy provided the closing remarks and thanked the major sponsors (AtkinsRealis and KIER) - the supporting sponsors (Brightly Software, Carrington West, Winvic, and WJ), and the public sector supporting sponsor (Ringway).

Sue concluded by thanking everyone for joining and hopefully delegates left with a spring in their step.

Lilian Greenwood MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Future of Roads) was interviewed as part of the CIHT National Conference 2025