Sustainable
We want the transport sector to cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.
We need to switch investment into sustainable transport, and away from road-building and airport expansion.
The move to sustainable transport will require Scotland to:
- Comply with Scottish law on climate change. Transport is the second largest sector for emissions yet is the one sector where no progress has been made to reduce emissions. We need to ensure that the transport sector doesn't prevent the emission reduction targets set out in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 from being met.
- Generate greater awareness of the exposure of the Scottish transport sector to oil depletion. There needs to be much greater understanding of the issues around oil depletion and the need for action. Only a few years ago, the threats from climate change had very low public consciousness – we now need to do the same for the challenge of Peak Oil.
- Improve fuel economy and higher emission standards for all vehicles. A switch to alternative fuels (hydrogen, electric, biofuels) may help deliver this aim, but only providing that these power sources are themselves environmentally sustainable.
- Establish Scotland as a centre of excellence in sustainable technology for public transport. Scotland doesn't make cars – but we do make buses. Scottish low carbon vehicles policy should prioritise public transport. There is an opportunity to establish Scotland as a centre of excellence in sustainable technology for public transport.
- Provide guidance on the appropriate use of cars. As half of all journeys are less than two miles in length, there is plenty of scope for action here.
- Shift freight from road to rail and sea. Road haulage imposes massive costs on society and the environment. We need to see as much freight as possible shifted on to rail and sea.
- Halt all large traffic-generating developments. The planning system needs to design places for people to live and work that are not car dependent. Scotland has a tradition of high-quality, compact urban areas – but this is being eroded by edge-of-town sprawl.
- Halt all traffic-generating road schemes. Scotland's multi-billion road-building programme demonstrates the current lack of commitment to tackling the trends of rising traffic levels and rising emissions. The two largest schemes in the programme – the Aberdeen western bypass and the proposed Second Forth Road Bridge – are unsustainable, unaffordable and unpopular. Only when we see them scrapped will we be confident that Scotland is serious about tackling our unsustainable transport trends.
- Replace short-haul flights with rail. We need to see a halt to the growth in air travel – the most polluting and energy inefficient mode of travel. Transferring much of the unsustainable levels of Anglo-Scottish air travel to rail can have an important role to play in cutting climate change emissions, but would also provide for increases in productivity given the better working environment provided by the train.