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Ladyman backs sustainable fuels
Page 10
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Stephen Ladyman, until last week Transport Minister, has called for the
UK to cut its carbon emissions, though not at the cost of economic
activity — or the rainforest. Roanna Avison reports.
ADOPTING SUSTAINABLE ways of producing fuels to cut emissions is the only way to tackle climate change. according to former Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman.
Speaking at Scania's environment conference, Responsible Road Transport: Fuelling the Challenge, Ladyman said the concept of creating a sustai::..able transport sector using bio fuels and `eco-safe driving' (driving in an environmentally responsible way) had generated a lot of debate: "The real issues we have to face up to are congestion, climate change and energy efficiency.
"Currently we're trying to get aviation and maritime into the emissions trading regime, and in land transport we're trying to tackle congestion and introduce low-carbon vehicle technologies."
Ladyman added that the government's plan is to look at every part 01 the transport network and see where it is practical to cut emissions: "Anything we do has to be viewed as part of the overall concept. There's no point trying to persuade people to leave their cars at home if we don't provide alternatives and invest in public transport.
At the same time, we cannot cut carbon transport volumes_ at the expense of economic activity."
Ladyman was also adamant there is no point taking steps that will benefit the UK environment at the cost of carbon sinks elsewhere in the world, such as the rainforest: "There's no point pursuing biofuels if they're not sustainable."
Under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, 50/n of road transport fuel in the UK should come from biofuels by 2010. But Ladyman said the UK will only adopt biofuels that are sustainable and generate carbon savings.
"When it comes to how we power vehicles and cut emissions. there are plenty of technologies that can contribute," he explained. "The Euro standards are one of the most cost-effective ways of meeting the quality demands."
He reported the government is encouraged that some operators are already using hydrogen fuel and second-generation biofuel.
Chris Huhne, Shadow Environment Secretary for the Liberal Democrats, said moving towards low or zero-carbon emissions in transport is not enough: "We should also be trying to shift as much freight as possible by rail rather than road, using road transport for shorter routes."
But he admitted that to do this there would need to be heavy investment in the rail network in the UK.