Cop27 in Reflection

Dr Lucy Rackliff, SFHEA is Senior Lecturer in Transport at Aston University and Toby Rackliff is Strategic Lead, Rail Policy at West Midlands Rail Executive.

Rail professionals scanning the Transport sections of the Cop26 website, looking for ways in which their industry can play its part in tackling climate change are likely to be disappointed

Given the contribution of road transport to global emissions, the lack of focus on rail is perhaps unsurprising: ‘Sixty percent of road transport emissions come from passenger travel (cars, motorcycles and buses); and the remaining forty percent from road freight (lorries and trucks). This means that, if we could electrify the whole road transport sector, and transition to a fully decarbonized electricity mix, we could feasibly reduce global emissions by 11.9 per cent.’ (Emissions by sector - Our World in Data)

Emissions at the point of use are not, however, the only environmental impact of road transport. Others include the generation of particulate matter (something electric vehicles do at much the same rate as Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles), urban land-take, and associated effects on social cohesion and active transport, and the exacerbation of climate change effects as road surfaces contribute to urban heat islands and the effects of flash-flooding. Even before we consider the provenance of battery components, the impact of the whole road vehicle supply chain, or indeed the effect on the grid of a fully electric car fleet, it should be clear that simply transitioning to electric road vehicles, whilst continuing to move the same volume of people and goods by road is a wholly inadequate solution.

The Cop26 focus on electric vehicles, with apparently no consideration of these broader questions is, at best, unambitious and simplistic, but if that was a disappointment to many last November, at Cop27 this year, the commitment did not even extend as far as having a dedicated day for transport.

More broadly, whilst decarbonising aviation presents arguably the biggest technical challenge, it is an uncomfortable truth that shipping, which provides the backbone of our low-cost global supply chain, not only accounts for some three per cent of the world’s emissions which continue to increase year on, but uses some of the cheapest, most polluting fuel.

In terms of surface transport, rather than focusing on electric vehicles, the priority should be to move towards more efficient and sustainable modes of transport. For local journeys this means encouraging car users to move towards walking, cycling and public transport. For longer distance passenger and freight traffic we need in the first instance to move from road and air to rail. Even replacing 60-70 HGVs with a train powered by single diesel engine is both less polluting and more efficient in terms of resources.

Similarly, decarbonisation is also easier to achieve and more effective if we focus on high volume, high-capacity modes such as rail, where addressing a dozen or so relatively short electrification gaps between our existing electrified trunk routes would enable a significant portion of long distance freight trains to switch from diesel to electric power.

The principal obstacle to the required modal shift in the UK, however, is the lack of lack of capacity on the rail network to accommodate future passenger and freight growth. This is why projects like HS2 are key to encouraging modal shift from road and air, and releasing capacity on existing lines for more freight and local passenger services. Targeting key bottlenecks on the existing rail network such as the singletrack branch line to the country’s busiest container terminal at Felixstowe should also be a high priority, but all too often such projects fail to progress due to lack government funding support.

In terms of decarbonising the existing rail network, experience from Europe has demonstrated that the most cost-effective way of achieving this is through a rolling programme of electrification prioritising the busiest main lines and urban networks.

Advances in battery technology also look set to have a strong supporting role, especially where such technology can effectively bridge-the-gap between different parts of the electrified network. Hydrogen clearly also has some potential as a power source for parts of the network where electrification is unlikely to be affordable, subject to the challenges around storage and production of truly ‘green’ hydrogen being addressed.

COP27’s ‘Solutions Day’ has done little to address the disappointment many felt following the apparently missed opportunities of COP26. The commitments, such as they are, continue to present new Zero Emission cars and vans as the key mechanism for improving the environmental performance of transport, with the UK government’s press release focusing on:

• The new Accelerating To Zero Coalition, for leading initiatives on delivering a Paris-aligned Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) transition globally.

• 214 ZEV Declaration signatories, committing to a global all-ZEV sales target by 2040, and 2035 in leading markets.

• A support package for emerging markets and developing economy countries.

• (UK and partners launch new measures at COP27 Solutions Day to drive progress on transition to Zero Emission Vehicles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)).

The opportunity rail presents to deliver low-emission, energy-efficient transport for both passengers and freight needs to be recognised by political leaders, and supported with appropriate funding commitments. At the same time, the ongoing issues with reliability and resilience have to be addressed if customers (and potential customers) are to have faith in rail as a viable, affordable alternative to more polluting modes such as air or road.

As COP27 closes, we can only wonder how many COPs we will have to go through before the fundamental role transport plays in every single sector of the economy is recognised, and more innovative transport solutions are given the focus they deserve. Whilst there’s no doubt road transport can be made greener, there seems little prospect it could ever match the performance of an appropriately resourced, high quality rail network. Supporting rail to deliver on that potential should be a central part of any discussion about decarbonising transport.