Fact-check: A38 expansion will INCREASE CO2 emissions and won’t solve air pollution
Highways England's own planning documents show the A38 expansion would emit more CO2 than any current idling traffic. Road traffic reduction is the only sensible solution for congestion and pollution.
Infographic showing the different kinds of air pollution: source.
Many people including some Derby City Councillors [1] falsely believe CO2 emissions will reduce if traffic flow improves. The construction alone is 131,000 tons of CO2. Then the induced traffic from the extra road capacity will increase CO2 emissions further. The numbers in Highways England's own planning documents clearly state this on page 24.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main greenhouse gas which is causing global heating and driving the climate emergency. This is why increasing CO2 emissions is bad.
This confusion is likely because improving the traffic flow can lower concentrations of NO2 air pollution where vehicles currently idle. (See the air pollution infographic above). However evidence shows that road traffic reduction and simply having fewer internal combustion engine vehicles emitting harmful gases has better results for air quality.
On page 38 in these Highways England documents there is a table showing minimal NO2 concentration reductions from improving traffic flow. Those NO2 levels are still harmful [2]. Highways England and Derby City Council are aiming for minimum levels of legal compliance which is unsurprising given Derby’s poor track record on illegal levels of air pollution and failure to respond quickly or adequately enough [3]. Air pollution is serious, it kills 64,000 people in the UK every year. On the 16 December, Southwark Coroner's Court in London found that air pollution "made a material contribution" to the death of nine-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah.
Road traffic air pollution is not just NO2 - each time a car is driven, tiny pieces of particulate matter such as dust are released into the air from the brake wear, tyre wear and road surface wear. These particles enter the airstream and have a detrimental impact on human health for drivers, passengers and bystanders. Plastic particles from tyres are also deposited into our sewers and lead to harmful consequences to our marine wildlife and aquatic food chains. Research from Harvard University revealed there is no safe level of particulate air pollution for human health.
The A38 expansion will not solve air pollution or reduce CO2 emissions. Road traffic reduction is the most effective strategy to cut particulate air pollution which will also reduce CO2 and NO2 emissions while also easing congestion and noise levels. Expanding the road network and giving more space to vehicles has always been a more popular yet ineffective option to lower air pollution and tackle congestion. This is because politicians and local authorities fear appearing “anti-motorist” if they attempt to solve pollution and congestion with more effective road vehicle reduction strategies.
It’s sad that many think sacrificing thousands of trees, destroying wildlife habitats, causing four years of disruption, demolishing people’s homes and worsening the climate crisis is more acceptable than asking people to use a different form of transport if they can.
The argument that traffic flow improvement is beneficial for the environment or human health does not hold up when you look at the numbers. Road traffic reduction is the most effective solution.
Footnotes
[1] Cabinet member Mick Barker stated the outright false claim that the A38 expansion would be better for the climate in the long run. When his mistake was corrected and evidence presented, he acted disrespectfully and inappropriately to the Derby resident sending the correct information. A complaint was made about his conduct for being dishonest and disrespectful with a request that Mr Barker apologises and undergoes climate science training. The Conservative Party’s Councillor Barker has a track record of dishonest and disrespectful behaviour but the Council decided the complaint had no grounds without providing a reasoned conclusion for their decision. The Council chose to defend the unprofessional conduct of Mr Barker. Apparently it is acceptable for an elected public servant with decision making power on planning and infrastructure schemes with environmental impacts to make false claims and show willful ignorance of basic climate science.
[2] “Despite the large number of acute controlled exposure studies on humans, several of which used multiple concentrations, there is no evidence for a clearly defined concentration–response relationship for nitrogen dioxide exposure." https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/123083/AQG2ndEd_7_1nitrogendioxide.pdf
[3] News report reveals Derby City Council rejected clean air zones after listening to a corporate lobby group. “Derby city council agreed with the FTA recommendation to avoid the introduction of a CAZ and instead work on achieving compliance with air quality standards through other measures (eg traffic management plans),”
Derby City Council has a track record of failing to respond to illegal levels of air pollution.
Infographic from Transport for Quality of Life’s report “The carbon impact of the national roads programme”
Research by Transport for Quality of Life shows that the Government’s flagship road investment strategy (RIS2) of £27 billion over 5 years threatens the UK’s commitments on climate change. The report shows the roads programme will add 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to UK emissions from the Strategic Road Network (SRN) between now and 2032 whereas those emissions need to be cut by 167 million tonnes to meet climate targets.