The Guardian view on transport emissions: the trouble with planes and automobiles

If the success of an event like Friday’s school strike can be measured, it is in the extent to which it changes the climate of opinion. Individuals, unions and other organisations that took part in the strike must play their part in reducing emissions. But when it comes to limiting global heating, governments have far more levers than anyone else. Global cooperation by politicians is essential to tackling the climate emergency. Since states are the world’s most powerful organisations, many of the solutions will inevitably be national.

In terms of their current and historic carbon emissions, and efforts to reduce them, there are huge differences between countries. There is no one-size-fits-all model of decarbonisation. In the UK, like everywhere else, progress is nowhere near fast enough. Carbon dioxide emissions have been falling for six years, and are at their lowest level since the reign of Queen Victoria. A law passed in June commits the government to reduce them to net zero by 2050, with any residual greenhouse gas pollution offset by emissions-reduction schemes.

But the energy policies pursued by Theresa May’s and David Cameron’s governments were more harmful than beneficial, with the deeply unpopular fracking industry propped up, and the astronomically expensive Hinkley Point C nuclear power station pushed through, while the wind and solar industries were attacked through the removal of subsidies – even though Conservative voters, like everyone else, prefer wind energy to fracking by a huge margin. The official body that advises the UK government on climate change has warned that we are on course to miss the targets set out in the carbon budgets covering the years 2023-32, with just seven out of 24 indicators showing progress in 2018.

In fact, the headline figure of a 44% fall in emissions below the 1990 baseline conceals multiple failures, with almost all the advances of recent years due to decarbonisation of the energy supply and phase-out of coal. Home insulation is one area where there has been little improvement. Farming is another. But since transport overtook energy to become the single biggest source of domestic emissions in 2016 – making up 33% of the total, higher than in much of the EU, where closer to 25% is typical – it is arguably here that policymakers and others should most urgently focus attention.

Motor vehicles, which are responsible for around a fifth of the UK’s total emissions, are by far the worst offender. The solution to the problem they present is relatively simple, but that does not make it easy. Bringing forward a ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2040 to 2035 or sooner, imposing strict regulations on heavy goods vehicles, and investing in electric car manufacturing and infrastructure, would please some people. So would increasing spending on public transport, reducing traffic in cities using congestion charging, and promoting walking and cycling with schemes such as car-free days. London will have its first such event on Sunday, four years after Paris.

Such policies reduce the harm associated with air pollution, and make urban environments quieter and safer. But since many people enjoy driving and feel entitled to use their cars, they are also politically challenging. The same goes for any attempt to reduce air travel. But with figures this week showing that aviation emissions are rising much faster than expected, and that the UK, with a 4% global share, is behind only the US and China, reduce it we must.

People should be encouraged to think about their transport decisions. But climate action must never be reduced to individual choices, and the onus is on politicians of all parties, starting with government ministers, to be brave. Momentum following this week’s demonstrations must not give way to drift. Big steps to reduce transport emissions would be one good way to keep moving.