Alliance against road building

 

PRESS RELEASE – 15th April 2005

CARBON EMISSIONS BY ROAD HAULAGE INDUSTRY ROCKET


Carbon dioxide emissions by the road haulage industry rose by 38 per cent between 1990 and 2002, according to a new set of sustainable development indicators (1).


Road freight now accounts for eight per cent of the UK’s carbon emissions, Sustainable Consumption and Production Indicators published by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) say.


Private car travel accounts for about ten per cent of the UK’s carbon emissions.


Emissions from aviation, meanwhile, increased by 89 per cent during the same period, the indicators say, contributing about five per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.


Defra has agreed 18 sustainable consumption and production indicators, to show how successfully the link between economic growth and environmental damage has been decoupled.


Notes to Editors:


(1)Sustainable Consumption and Production Indicators can been seen at www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics