The Road to Hell Is....

The UK's Department for Transport likes to 'reward' its car and van users. They vote. A recent planned splurge of road building has, however, had to have its 'transport decarbonisation plan' amended (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/12/road-building-spree-will-derail-uks-net-zero-targets-warn-campaigners). Twenty-six megatonnes of carbon emissions had to be added to the road building 'transport decarbonisation plan'. There was initially a failure to recognise the 'real world' emissions of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and to predict the likely increase in van usage. PHEVs actually produce 3 to 5 times the emissions on the road, than claimed on the basis of 'laboratory tests'. It must have come as a surprise that car manufacturers generally oversell the performance of their products? Van usage is likely to increase, because of post-Covid changes in patterns of activity. Some campaigners predict that these emissions additions, mean the UK will miss its net zero 'targets'. Politically, of course, targets are a moveable feast.