Most journeys are made by road—how do we improve them?

Steve Bloomfield deputy editor, Prospect

Climate change vs the economy

Forget the headlines about the survival or otherwise of HS2 or whether a regional airline should be saved— the most important transport news of 2020 so far is Birmingham city council’s proposal to ban cars from driving through the city centre. Unlike other schemes in British towns and cities to limit car use, the aim of the project is not combating congestion—instead the council believes it is a necessary step in the fight against air pollution and climate change.

These conflicts—between transport needs and the planet—will play out in city halls and government offices throughout the coming decade. At some stage, we will need to have a proper debate about car use. Even if the government sticks to its promise of banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2040, that still means several decades of airpolluting vehicles on our roads. Nor are electric cars the solution some politicians seem keen to trumpet—there simply isn’t enough cobalt in the world to make the electric car batteries we need, nor is it a given that those that do make it on to our roads are run on renewable energy.

Both parties have committed to reaching “carbon netzero”— the Conservatives by 2050, Labour (with some caveats) by 2030. Turning those long-term aspirations into concrete policies in 2020 has, for the government so far, been a little harder. When radical climate pledges meet the political reality of boosting regional economies, the green wash begins to fade.