‘Time is running out to reach net zero – it’s up to us to make our votes count’

We have nine years left to reach net zero. Let’s use these elections to ensure we put words into practice.

Across our region, road transport contributes a third of all carbon emissions, and, whilst other sectors have taken steps to decarbonise, transport hasn’t budged over the past decade.

Climate emergencies have been declared by all levels of government across the region – breaking through the glass ceiling first shattered by Bristol in November 2018.

We know the scale of the problem, but haven’t adequately found ways to tackle it – 40 per cent of all car commuting journeys in our area are less than two kilometres long. That’s a distance that could easily be walked or cycled by the majority of people.

In Bristol, the One City Climate Strategy identifies what’s needed to deliver net-zero emissions – a 40 per cent reduction in vehicle mileage. And across the West of England Combined Authority area, we know we need to reduce vehicle emissions by 18 per cent every year by 2030.

The pace and scale of change that’s needed is immediately apparent when you look at the carbon reductions transport has delivered in the past 15 years. Precisely zero – in fact emissions are getting worse because we’re driving bigger, heavier 4x4s – and more of them.

The Cabot Institute at the University of Bristol has calculated that we need to lose over 500 million car miles each year in Bristol alone if we’re to meet our carbon targets.

And whilst Sustrans supports the mass transit proposals being developed across the city region, the first line won’t be up and running until 2032 at the very earliest, so it can’t play a role in meeting our decarbonisation targets.

The slack needs to be taken up largely by increases in walking and cycling. Such increases are supported by central government, who have issued a target of 50 per cent of all journeys made in urban areas being made by walking and cycling by 2030.

Not only this, but the government is finally starting to put the money behind the promises, with £1.5bn to be allocated at the spending review this autumn.

So the key question is, how can we begin planning for success, rather than repeatedly putting transport in the box labelled too difficult?

To do so we need to change the mind-set to consider walking and cycling strategic transport options in the same bracket as mass transit. It’s not an either/or argument any more.

With public confidence in the safety of trains and buses at an all-time low, people will seek the comfort and hygiene of their cars in greater numbers. Unless of course we give them alternatives.

50 per cent of all journeys made in urban areas need to be made by walking and cycling by 2030. Photo: Jon Bewley

Throughout the pandemic the only true forms of transport resilient to shocks have been walking and cycling.

Across the May Bank Holiday last year, cycling peaked at 384 per cent above normal levels. People experienced a new normal – a future with freedom from fear of motor traffic.

But as the cars returned after the first lockdown, cycling levels returned to normal. People no longer felt safe and able to get around without the protection of a metal box.

So where do we go from here?

It’s clear that these elections are the last chance to influence our ability to meet our carbon objectives.

The evidence shows that residents support investment in walking and cycling. The Your City Our Future survey has shown that the vast majority of Bristol residents value the ability to move freely around the city without a car. And Bristol’s Citizens’ Assembly has recommended a reduction in car journeys with year on year targets to achieve this.

Our own Bike Life data shows that Bristol residents support investment in cycling infrastructure, even if it means less space for motor traffic, and they support measures to remove rat running traffic from residential streets.

Time is running out – it’s up to us to make our votes count.

John Usher is head of partnerships for England South at Sustrans.

Main photo: Jon Bewley

Read more: ‘Plans for cycling in Bristol are not enough to solve the climate crisis’