Achieving Car Use Reduction in Scotland: A Renewed Policy Statement
Foreword
Our shared ambition to reduce car use, and the amount of kilometres travelled in Scotland by car, was motivated by our collective desire and commitment to tackle the climate emergency, and to encourage more people to travel more sustainably for short and longer journeys.
There are wider benefits too. If people choose to walk, wheel or cycle in their own neighbourhoods, that helps to make those communities safer and less polluted. Fewer cars on our roads means that buses can get to their destinations faster, helping to make public transport more attractive. HGVs and trade and delivery vehicles also benefit from less congestion.
There is a real appetite for positive changes to be made, and for meaningful engagement on this policy. The case for change is still compelling. Better and more affordable access to public transport and active travel routes will help reduce inequalities and eradicate child poverty. Reducing congestion on our roads will support growth of the economy. Reducing the 12.99% of carbon emissions generated by cars will help tackle the climate emergency. Making public transport and active travel infrastructure more efficient and effective will help to improve Scotland’s public services.
While we remain wholeheartedly committed to reducing our reliance on cars in a fair way, we have also been frank in our assessment of the challenges surrounding the 20% target and the need to revise it. The UK Climate Change Committee (CCC) in its recent Scotland’s Carbon Budgets Advice for the Scottish Government indicates that Scotland would now need a 6% car use reduction by 2035 in line with its proposed meeting of carbon budgets. Advice from the CCC on how we might reduce transport emissions to meet our statutory climate change targets has now been published and we have commissioned further evidence to inform the revision of our car use reduction target together with other emission reduction measures.
This shared policy statement sets out our approach and identifies opportunities to go further and apply lessons learned, to demonstrate our commitment to reaching net zero by 2045. This includes conducting a ‘regulatory check’ for existing local road user charging powers under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 to ensure that local authorities have all the powers they need to make change happen.
However, we are also acutely aware that Scotland is largely a rural, sparsely populated country, and that we will always need vehicles, including private cars, in some capacity to enable people, goods and services to get around, to, and from Scotland and beyond. Our policy approach will necessarily be a regional and differentiated one which takes into account place-specific measures to enable positive change in rural and island communities.
For decades now, we have all experienced the benefits that car use can provide – now we need to agree collectively and as a nation, that there can be benefits from reducing our car use. We must work together, as national and local government, to realise them.
- Fiona Hyslop MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Transport
- Councillor Gail Macgregor, Environment and Economy Spokesperson