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Home, Travel and Food: together they make up more than 60% of the average UK resident's carbon footprint. Here you'll find the latest news, research and ideas to help you cut their impact.

Driving into a greener futurePrint

Did you know that domestic transport was responsible for around 21% of all domestic greenhouse gas emissions in the UK in 2007?

Private car use constituted around 78% of that figure. By making more careful travel choices, such as swapping the car for the bus, you could save money and cut CO2 emissions at the same time.

CO2 emissions of different types of transport in the UK

Vehicle

UK: total million tonnes of CO2, (domestic only)

Cars

70.3

Trains

1.9

Buses

5.2

HGVs

20.7

Planes

2


Car travel is the UK's greatest cause of transport-related CO2 emissions

According to estimates by Transport Direct, over a distance of 100 miles a large car (with one occupant) will emit the most CO2 per traveller (41.4 kg) of all passenger vehicles, followed by a plane (27.5 kg), a small car (20.5 kg), a train (9.3 kg) and a coach (4.8 kg).

Car use has risen in the UK

Trips by car (driver and passenger) accounted for 63% of all trips made and 79% of distance travelled in 2009.

Are we using more public transport?

For most of the last decade or so, more of us have been taking the bus. However, statistics show that there has been a slight drop in bus journeys in England over the last year. 

We also took the train and tram less, too: journeys in Great Britain decreased by 1.3 per cent between 2008/09 and 2009/10. It is the first year-on-year decrease in passenger journeys since 1991/92, so hopefully just a temporary blip.

What is the Government doing to help?

In the 2009 Low Carbon Transport: A Greener Future report, the then government set out plans to reduce domestic transport's carbon footprint.

Plans included encouraging a greater use of public transport, supporting manufacturers of ultra-low carbon vehicles and promoting the development of sustainable biofuels.

As the then Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis explained: "We all know that good transport systems and services are fundamental to our economy and our quality of life. We have also long recognised that transport has adverse impacts on the environment. Avoiding dangerous climate change means we must act, both in the UK and internationally, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport."

 

Sources

[1] Greenhouse gas emissions from transport represent 21% of the total United Kingdom domestic emissions. Emissions from private car use constitute 78% of that figure, representing 17% of total emissions or 91.5 million tonnes of CO in 2008.
Information Source: House of Lords,  Call for Evidence: Behaviour Change - Travel-Mode Choice Interventions to Reduce Car Use in Towns and Cities (Page 1)
 
[2] Details of vehicle CO2 emissions
Information Source: DECC, UK greenhouse gas emissions 2009 (Table 4, last column, rows 24-38)
 
[3] Car travel accounts for more CO2 emissions than other form of transport in the UK. In fact, personal car travel is the single biggest contributor to personal CO2 emissions.
Information Source: Act on CO2, Compare CO2 emissions of cars, trains, coaches and planes

[4] Trips by car (driver and passenger) accounted for 63% of all trips made and 79% of distance travelled in 2009.
Information Source: Department for Transport, National Travel Survey 2009
 
[5] Bus passenger journeys in England decreased by 0.5 per cent between 2008/09 and 2009/10
Information Source: Department for Transport, Bus Statistics (Under Summary of latest key results)

[6] Light rail and tram passenger journeys in Great Britain decreased by 1.3 per cent between 2008/09 and 2009/10, the first year-on-year decrease in passenger journeys since 1991/92. In 2009/10 there were 186.2 million passenger journeys
Information Source: Department for Transport, Light Rail Statistics, 2009/10 (Page 1)

[7] What is the Government doing to help?
Information Source: Department of Transport, Low Carbon Transport: A Greener Future (2009) (Page 3-5)

Team Green Britain and London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Ltd (LOCOG) do not endorse any of the products, companies, organisations, opinions or websites that have been mentioned in this article. The content of this article has merely been provided as background to, or discussion on, various topical issues relating to the environment and it is not necessarily representative of the views of Team Green Britain and LOCOG. Further, any figures and calculations noted in this article are estimates (unless otherwise specified), and may vary in light of numerous factors and readers are advised to undertake their own research in relation to the facts and figures applicable to their particular circumstance. Certain facts and figures shown have been sourced from third parties. Team Green Britain has not verified information sourced from third parties and Team Green Britain cannot take responsibility for the accuracy of these facts and figures.

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