Paying to use roads to cut emissions is inevitable, ex-Tory minister says
People will have to start paying to use roads in the coming years as a way to reduce transport emissions, a former Tory environment secretary has said.
John Gummer, who now sits in the House of Lords as Lord Deben, said government and industry must stop making the concept “terrifying” as he spoke at an event in Westminster for the new independent Council for Net Zero Transport.
Introducing road pricing as a way to tackle air pollution, such as the ultra low emission zone (Ulez) in London, has been divisive in recent years, especially amid the cost-of-living crisis.
But discussing the issue at the event on Thursday, industry experts said the next government will have to bring in measures that shift public behaviour alongside the other strategies aimed at decarbonisatiing transport.
Lord Deben, who is the council’s chairman, said: “If there’s one issue that we know is going to happen is there is going to be road pricing so stop making it a terrifying thing and start working out how best to do it.
“Of course, there is going to be road pricing because there ain’t another way of moving from where we are to where we’ve got to be.
“So don’t refuse to talk about it. It’s like the Victorians refusing to talk about sex but quite a lot was going on.”
It came after Dr Douglas Parr, chief scientist and policy director at Greenpeace UK, told the event that “pay as you drive” can help to speed up the sector’s transition.
“Sooner or later, we’re going to have to open up that conversation as we shift to electric vehicles,” he said.
Lord Deben also argued that those who generate the most emissions through transport should also have to pay more to ensure a “just transition”.
“I think everybody should be paying for the extra weight they put on the system,” he said, adding that those with private planes “should pay the cost to the environment on that”.
The new council has been spearheaded by Zemo Partnership, a not-for-profit organisation that provides guidance on decarbonising road transport, and will work to support the next government to deliver on the UK’s climate goals after the General Election.
Other members include Chris Stark, former Climate Change Committee chair, Edmund King, president of Automobile Association (AA), David Wells, chief executive of Logistics UK, Fiona Howarth, chief executive of Octopus Electric Vehicles and Elizabeth de Jong, chief executive of the Fuels Industry UK.
At the event, council members spoke about accelerating measures such as attracting investment to the UK, adapting the grid and rolling out charging points across the country to decarbonise the sector.
But Professor Jillian Anable, from the University of Leeds’ Institute for Transport Studies who also sits on the council, said she is “apprehensive” of what its main message to government might be.
“What still isn’t happening and I feel we need to do is to stop denying the real sectors and the real changes that need to be made around road and around air,” she said.
Ms Anable argued that the scale of the changes needed cannot be met by merely increasing active travel or the use of public transport but by reducing how much people travel altogether.
“The politicians and we cannot put forward suggestions about solutions unless we’re honest about the scale of the problem and that also transfers into discussion around what we’re expecting the public to do,” she said.
Ms Anable went on to say that the future will “involve a much lower amount of travelling” because people will have to travel less or because parts of the transport system actually collapse because of climate-related disasters.
“We have to talk about much lower amounts of travel and be very honest about that,” she added.
Zemo Partnership said the council will provide strategic oversight as it works with member organisations to develop an overall delivery roadmap for net zero transport – supported by underlying sectoral roadmaps.
