The UK’s transport decarbonisation plans do not deliver the changes needed to address the climate crisis. Indeed, the UK government’s net zero strategy was ruled unlawful in 2022 for failing to show how targets will be met.

Achieving a fairer transport system, with the transformative change that requires, must be front and centre of the UK’s plans to achieve net zero and restore nature. Within this, fairness must not be an afterthought – a just transition can help accelerate environmental action by increasing public support and addressing wider social and economic injustices.

Yet our political mainstream does not support bold action to deliver a fairer transport system or reduce transport demand. Despite the leadership being shown in Wales, Scotland and by local leaders, the UK Labour and Conservative parties appear hesitant to directly tackle domestic or international transport demand.

In this programme The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) will collaborate with Element Energy to shift the transport system in a fairer, greener and healthier direction.

Over two crucial years in the UK’s political cycle, IPPR’s work will present the case and roadmap for rapid and deep reductions in transport emissions as part of the move to a fairer transport system.

IPPR’s goal is to accelerate the transition to a fairer, greener and healthier transport system by mainstreaming the ideas and policies that will deliver faster climate action and a nature recovery in a way that allows everyone to thrive.

They will achieve this by:
• Defining a credible road map for what needs to be done in the 2020s to make significant progress in transport decarbonisation by 2030
• Providing a platform for new and marginalised voices – across voter groups and diverse communities - to share their stories of what the shift to a fairer transport system would mean for them
• Engaging with politicians in the current electoral cycle
• Shaping the work of others in assessing the most desirable approach to transport decarbonisation
• Providing insights that can support local, regional and devolved national governments to deliver ambitious transport decarbonisation policies
• Contributing to a longer-term shift in the mainstream public debate and social norms associated with transport demand.