Business body calls on government and corporates to work together to encourage greener commuting practices
The coronavirus crisis may have sparked a major debate about the future of the daily commute, as businesses across the country have embraced home-working practices that could become a new normal for many organisations. But now the CBI has warned that regardless of how working patterns evolve post-pandemic, significant changes to the way people travel to work will be needed to ensure the UK meets its net zero emissions targets.
The CBI and KPMG have today put forward a series of policy recommendations in a new report, titled Green Miles: Delivering on a net-zero vision for commuting, which sets out how businesses and government can work together to cut commuters' emissions ahead of the government's much-anticipated Transport Decarbonisation Plan.
One of the report's principal calls is for businesses to shoulder greater responsibility for ensuring their employees adopt greener commuting habits, through measures such as incentivising the use of public transport and installing electric vehicle charging infrastructure at workplaces. Staff travel should also be incorporated into corporate net zero strategies, the report argues, so as to help ensure management takes the issue seriously.
The report comes at a time when the world of work has radically shifted as a result of the pandemic and many companies are reconsidering their future work models. The shift towards home-working has also sparked a debate over which working models deliver the lowest environmental impacts, with some arguing the reduction in emissions from commuting could be offset by increase emissions in the home.
However, the report notes that before Covid-19, commuter journeys accounted for 15 per cent of all trips and 20 per cent of total travel in the UK - totalling 18 billion kg of CO2 emissions every year. And as such, even if travel patterns evolve in the wake of the pandemic, commuting emissions will still need to be drastically reduced for the UK to achieve its net zero goals.
"If the UK is to meet its obligations to reach net zero emissions by 2050, decarbonisation of commuting will be vital," said Matthew Fell, chief UK policy director at CBI. "However, this will require not only significant public and private investment in infrastructure and technology, but also a shift in business and employee behaviours to match. A key change will be for businesses to now take greater responsibility for their employees' commutes. They should factor these emissions into their net zero strategies and set out tangible steps to help their teams make greener journeys.
"Collaboration between business and government can be a catalyst for achieving this. This summer, as more and more businesses nationwide begin to look beyond the challenges of COVID and plan a return to on-site work, firms have an unprecedented opportunity to work with government at all levels to provide their staff with a menu of low emissions travel options."
Specifically, the report calls on the government to step up investment in green transport infrastructure and revamp public transport networks to reflect changing working patterns and demand for different ticketing models. And it urges the government to publish a national electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure delivery plan by the end of the year to support the rapid expansion of the EV market.
In tandem, these measures could help to build momentum around the shift to a decarbonised transport network ahead of COP26 in November, where clean transport will be a core theme, the report argued.
The report comes just days after a coalition of rail industry groups wrote to the government arguing that a new wave of rail electrification projects was urgently needed if the government was to meet its stated goal of delivering a net zero emission rail network by 2040.