Assessing carbon emissions from new road construction

David Metz, Centre for Transport Studies University College London, London

24 July 2020

The Transport for Quality of Life report may overstate the CO2 implications of Road Investment Strategy 2, David Metz believes

You noted the report by Lynn Sloman and colleagues of Transport for Quality of Life (TfQL), which is concerned with the carbon emissions arising from the DfT’s second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) (LTT 10 Jul). Their detailed analysis reaches the conclusion that the increase in CO2 from RIS2 would negate 80 per cent of potential carbon savings from electric vehicles on the Strategic Road Network (SRN) between now and 2032.

This conclusion struck me as surprising. Although annual...