ROADS and CLIMATE CHANGE SEMINAR REPORT 2 OCTOBER 2008 – HAMPDEN PARK, GLASGOW

ISBN 978 1 906006 46 4

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Contents

Foreword
Jim Barton, Director Trunk Roads: Network Management and Chief Road Engineer
Key themes
Overarching issues
Next steps
Contacts
Workshop outputs
Workshop 1
Mitigation: Carbon measurement - How and why?
Workshop 2
Adaptation: Preparing for the future
Workshop 3
Design standards: How can we encourage innovation?
Workshop 4
International experience: What can we learn from others?

Foreword

When I realised the World Roads Association’s Technical Committee on Preserving the Environment were coming to Glasgow for their two day meeting it occurred to me that this presented an excellent opportunity for Transport Scotland to bring together transport and environmental professionals from local, national and international organisations to discuss and develop our thinking about roads and climate change; and to use the output from the conference to feed into the work of the WRA technical committee.

Climate change is the single biggest challenge facing us today and we already know that transport is likely to be one of the most difficult sectors from which to deliver emissions reductions. Scottish road traffic levels are forecast to grow by 27% by 2021, comparable with projected increases worldwide, and there is a real risk that this growth could substantially erode emissions savings from other parts of the economy and outstrip the benefits delivered by technological improvements.

It was hugely encouraging that so many people demonstrated their commitment to address these challenges by attending the seminar. Transport Scotland is very keen to ensure that we capitalise on the enthusiasm for collaborative working that was so evident on the day. With that in mind we hope that this seminar report will provide a springboard for further activity rather than acting merely as a record of the discussion that took place. We have included some suggestions for next steps within this report and we want to hear your views on whether these approaches will move us in the right direction.

As the Minister commented at the seminar, it is only by working together across professional and geographical boundaries that we will be able to meet the very real challenges that we all face. I hope that you will continue to work with us to achieve this.

Jim Barton
Director Trunk Roads: Network Management and Chief Road Engineer

Key themes

In spite of all four workshops focusing on different themes there was a remarkable amount of consistency of message from all of the workshop sessions about what the key issues are and where our focus needs to be.

This section of the report flags these issues up and asks some specific questions about how we can move forward with these issues and what our follow up actions should be.

Workshop Key Themes

Theme 1 – Mitigation: Carbon Measurement

There are many tools, products, programmes and standards for measuring carbon and there will clearly be a requirement for all of us, particularly those in the public sector, to be able to produce consistent data to demonstrate the carbon impacts of our activities. This will become ever more critical following the expected introduction of statutory emissions reduction targets and the introduction of fixed carbon budgets which are expected as secondary legislation under the Scottish Climate Change Bill.

The key questions and issues in this area raised during the workshops were:

• How can we measure carbon consistently so that we are able to compare like with like and really understand the impact of our decisions and activities? Reliable emissions factors and consistent reporting are important and these should cover embodied as well as tailpipe emissions.
• How far down the supply chain do we go to retrieve information and how do we ensure the data we receive is consistent? Transparency of approach is critical to counter those who promote misleading claims about emissions, and to ensure a level commercial playing field.
• How do we use this information to improve investment decision making and monitoring and evaluation?

Commonly agreed issues were the need to measure carbon in a consistent and repeatable way so that decisions to reduce emissions could be informed. It was recognised that while robust calculation or estimation is needed this is only a means to an end and the important focus should be on implementing measures to reduce energy and carbon emissions. Above all the calculation process should be kept as simple as possible.

At a broader level, it was observed that carbon efficiency does not necessarily equate to being sustainable and it is important not to ignore other environmental and resource management issues. In the bid to cut carbon emissions significantly across the transport sector, travel behaviour is still the main issue as the large majority of emissions come from travel modes and choices. Changing behaviour is a complex issue and there is a danger that sending the wrong signals to the travelling public can alienate them from the carbon reduction imperative. Continued improvement in public transport is very important in providing car users with a lower carbon, reliable alternative.

Theme 2 – Adaptation: Preparing for the Future

Much of the discussion was steered around the issue of risk assessment and management where it was considered that a robust process was needed which allowed agencies to focus resources on high risk areas. This should draw on previous domestic and international experience in adaptation work and the approach should be within timescales within which a reasonable level of predictability (e.g. in climate models) can be assured.

There was a good level of consistency in the discussions held in the two sessions for this workshop with the following identified as common themes:

• It is critical to take a risk based approach to adaptation interventions and be aware of the impact that any adaptation measure you pursue may have on other environmental resources and receptors.
• It is important to prioritise and make the best use of information to constantly review and update your understanding.
• There is a need to be proactive and honest with the public about what the risks are and why action is or isn’t being taken to address different issues. The public needs to understand the value they are getting for their money.
• Delivering behaviour change and modal shift is the key to emissions reduction.

Much of the discussion focused on communication as the last two bullet points above imply. Information and education are critical in the process of changing behaviour and it is only reasonable to present evidence on these issues to the public to fully explain the reasons for mitigation responses which are implemented. This should provide clarity on how agencies and authorities are achieving best value in their interventions and why it is necessary to intervene. Whilst it was considered that dealing with climate change will require the ‘carrot and stick’ approach, there has to be explanation of why the ‘stick’ is needed, however, in achieving this dialogue approaches which involve what might be perceived to be ‘scaremongering’ should be avoided.

Theme 3 – Design Standards: Encouraging Innovation

This session examined the role of standards in relation to innovative designs, processes and materials choices which could help deliver and maintain roads in a more carbon efficient way. Much of the discussion focussed on the principal system of standards for roads, the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) which was acknowledged to have a slow replacement cycle which delays the updating of standards in relation to best practice.

A few common themes were identified from the two group discussions:

• There is a need to learn from experience (including international – e.g. on drainage) and share best practice among agencies, local authorities, consultants, contractors and professional institutes.
• It is important to ensure that design standards are not too prescriptive and do not stifle innovation, decisions should be increasingly taken based on performance based approaches which would allow a greater focus on achieving outcomes (e.g. less embodied carbon) rather than on rigid design based specifications.
• DMRB should be more flexible to allow for continuous improvement and to allow it to be adapted to accommodate new information. An example cited here was that DMRB does not sufficiently support the use of recycled materials in construction. It would be beneficial for all if the replacement and updating of standards was achieved more quickly.

International experience in urban design was discussed and opportunities to learn in particular from guidance and practice on street design were identified as opportunities at the workshops. Road layout and design standards can also influence operational emissions from traffic for example through junction design by providing more free flow conditions (avoiding congestion and traffic queues). They can also be used to foster a more multi modal approach to road design and traffic allocation, for example in the use of High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, and this needs further development. For local authorities, it may be more appropriate in many circumstances to adopt simpler and/or more relevant standards than those set out in DMRB (for example, due to lower vehicle loadings, local roads may not require to be designed to the same structural standards as trunk roads).

Overall, it was considered that there needs to be greater flexibility in the design and materials approval processes to allow for consideration and acceptance of innovative approaches where these do not necessarily meet the existing published standard. Whilst the commercial and performance risks associated with the introduction (and trialling) of new materials and products do need to be considered (by clients and providers), there should be greater encouragement and acceptance of innovation in the standards approval and procurement processes.

Theme 4 – International Experience: Learning from Others

These sessions heard presentations from a number of UK and international speakers and much of the discussion considered the lessons learned from elsewhere. The international experiences from countries as far apart as Japan, the US, Greece, New Zealand and Canada illustrated that a range of measures and approaches are available and aspects of each of these may need to be adopted in Scotland. Several countries have obtained benefits from technological improvements to vehicles (to reduce emissions), by using technology to control traffic (e.g. speed restrictions, flow optimisation) and by applying road tolling and pricing to influence demand. In addition, land use and planning has been recognised as a fundamental issue in addressing travel patterns and the demand for travel and significant effort has been expended, for example in New Zealand, with positive results. The Japanese experience which has used pricing mechanisms, and traffic control, has shown that emissions from transport can be reduced whilst maintaining positive growth in economic productivity. Dispersal and density of population is an important factor in Canada and affects the ability to provide effective mass transit systems whereas in the US there are still some policy gaps on climate change to be addressed at the federal level.

The presentations stimulated a very wide ranging discussion and a number of key themes can be drawn from both sessions:

• Mitigation and behaviour change are the most pressing issues for climate change.
• There is a need to demonstrate leadership with our own travel and consumption choices. New approaches to home working, rural hub offices and journey modes should be stimulated.
• Governments, agencies and large organisations exert an influence in terms of procurement through the supply chain and this should be harnessed to send signals to society and business that lower carbon choices are required and can be delivered.
• The projected emissions impacts in options for investment need to be made clear and potentially presented in monetary terms in the decision making processes, along with standard economic appraisal.
• Integration of land use planning, economic investment and transport is one of the most important ways in which emissions reductions can be achieved from the derived demand which transport represents.

There was substantial discussion around the choices people make in travel, their awareness of the emissions characteristics of their mode choice (e.g. how much carbon is emitted by their cars) and the extent to which vehicle technology can address emissions. Whilst international and European developments indicate that emissions per kilometre from new cars will reduce over time, there was some concern that relying on technology alone is not a comprehensive solution to the pressing problem of mitigation. For example there are concerns about the availability of metals needed to manufacture electrically powered vehicles, and the sustainability of the (grid) electricity supply.

There also needs to be a focus on changing travel behaviour, and encouraging more positive transport choices. A further major factor in reducing the demand for travel is through land use planning, as highlighted in the fifth bullet point above A concerted, national level approach to this is required, which needs to be led at a political level, to achieve a shift in the debate towards more sustainable planning and patterns of land use. This may need to be complemented with measures for travel demand management including the possibility of economic measures such as road pricing or charging on the basis of carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles using networks.

Overarching issues

The conference workshop themes did not cover all aspects of climate change. Instead they were identified as being of particular interest to the conference participants. However from the wide ranging discussions held in each workshop many other aspects of climate change and sustainability were covered.

The following is a summary of some of the common threads taken from the discussions at the conference, including the workshops.

These issues were not specifically about the delivery and management of road assets, but the debate illustrated that many of the concepts, challenges and ideas being tackled in the transport arena are equally applicable to – and integrate with - wider issues of sustainability and climate change for society and for all of us as individuals.

Transport Scotland, working with others, will be taking these key themes forward and looking at the detailed points, as we progress our plans to deal with climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Next steps

The presentations and workshops at the conference have generated a great deal of useful information, comment and opinion on the issue of roads and climate change. We have tried to capture as much of this as possible in this report and we will use this to augment our own existing body of information on climate change and transport issues, and to inform our response to this on-going challenge.

This report will also be issued to everyone who registered to attend the seminar, including the World Roads Association delegates.

But much more focus is needed on the practical steps that can be taken and on overcoming the barriers identified. This involves all parties – government, agencies, local authorities, industry, NGOs and all stakeholders - including the public. The seminar has also helped us to identify who the key stakeholders are, and we will maintain a database of interested and contributing professionals.

We want to continue to engage with all these groups, so we see the seminar as a starting point rather than a one-off event. While it is not possible to run events of this nature on a regular basis, we do need to facilitate and engage in a continuous process of dialogue, at the same time as identifying, facilitating and driving forward actions to respond to the issues identified.

For Transport Scotland, this action focuses around the work being led through our Climate Change Steering Committee which oversees the framework of the agency’s developing Climate Change Action Plan. The Plan, which deals with mitigation and adaptation, is currently in draft. However it is our intention to prepare and publish this document in the next few months. The Action Plan provides a framework for actively addressing climate change in the next 3 years – some of the actions build on existing initiatives and practices – and some require new approaches to help mainstream sustainability in all aspects of our (and others’) work. Importantly, Transport Scotland recognises that it not only has the opportunity to reduce its own carbon emissions, but also to influence others through taking a lead on climate change and through its role as a major procurer of goods and services.

We have to be realistic in our expectation of what Transport Scotland can deliver through our Climate Change Action Plan. The focus for this first 3 year plan will need to be on preparation of robust tools and systems to better equip us for the challenge of climate change. It will also focus on what we can deliver in the short to medium term in relation to emissions reductions and adaptation of our transport networks, with a longer term strategy to take us into the next phase of post Climate Change Bill activity.

Nevertheless, we are intending that the process will focus on practical measures and lead to solutions to the varied issues and challenges identified by events such as the Roads Climate Change Seminar.

We hope you will continue to work collaboratively with us to move this process forward.

Contacts

The Roads Climate Change Seminar was organised by a group of individuals across Transport Scotland’s directorates. A number of these individuals have responsibility for climate change as part of their day to day duties, and we can legitimately say that this extends from our Chief Executive, (Chair of the Climate Change Steering Committee), and Directors through all levels of the organisation.

Nevertheless, there are a number of individuals in Transport Scotland who have specific responsibility for climate change issues. If you would like to discuss specific aspects of Transport Scotland’s work on climate change and sustainability please contact an official from the list provided here.

In order to provide an open forum for engagement on climate change issues, Transport Scotland is also working on development of a dedicated series of web pages to be included on the agency’s website. This will provide a single ‘portal’ where stakeholders can obtain information on Transport Scotland’s progress with climate change and sustainability, download key documents such as the Action Plan, find links to other important policy documents and tools/sources of best practice, and learn about forthcoming Scottish Government events.

Further information on these developments will be emailed to all those who attended the conference once we have developed the resources and website.

In the meantime we have included links to a variety of resources that we thought may be useful to you;

Scottish Government Information on Climate Change:-
All documents pertaining to the Scottish Climate Change Bill can be accessed via the following link;
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Climate-Change/16327/Climate-Change-Bill

Scottish Government - Adapting Our Ways: Managing Scotland's Climate Risk: Consultation to inform Scotland's Climate Change Adaptation Framework
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/06/23113244/0

Scottish Government Transport Policy:-
Scotland’s National Transport Strategy;
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/12/04104414/0

Transport Scotland Corporate Information:-
Transport Scotland Corporate Plan 2008-2011;
http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/reports/publications-and-guidance/corporate/j10061-00

Transport Scotland Business Plan 2008/2009;
http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/reports/publications-and-guidance/corporate/j10056-00

Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance;
http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/reports/publications-and-guidance/corporate/j9760-00

Transport Scotland Adaptation Reports
Transport Scotland – Scottish Road Network Climate Change Study is available via the following link;
http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/reports/publications-and-guidance

Transport Scotland – Scottish Road Network Landslides Study: Implementation will be available via the link below from Monday 6 October;
http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/reports/publications-and-guidance

World Roads Association
Further information about the World Roads Association Technical Committees can be found via the following link;
http://www.piarc.org/en/technical-committees/

Workshop outputs

This section of the report presents a shorthand summary of the main issues presented and discussed at the four afternoon workshop sessions from the conference at Hampden Park. The summaries are drawn from the notes made by the scribes present in each workshop and attempt to capture the significant issues identified and debated. Nevertheless it is not easy to record or interpret all of the issues – particularly the complex points – so if you consider that there are details missing from the report please feel free to let us know.

Workshop 1

Carbon measurement – How and why?

This workshop was chaired by Transport Scotland’s Environmental Advisor, Henry Collin and focused on why we need to measure the carbon impacts of our road networks and some of the challenges in developing suitable measurement systems. Presentations on this issue were provided by Geoff Richards of the Highways Agency, who outlined the process taken by the Agency to develop a carbon calculator tool for their operations, and John Stocks of the Carbon Trust, who spoke about some of the challenges of measuring the transport emission impacts of a small to medium sized organisation.

Both sessions of the workshop were run as open forums, with participants being asked to identify the major challenges and issues in developing suitable carbon measurement systems. This was then followed up by a moderated discussion where the audience were invited to ask questions of the two presenters and discuss some of the issues surrounding carbon measurement.

Session 1

Why measure carbon?

• Important to gain an understanding of the carbon impacts and the make up of this impact before attempting to manage or reduce it. Identify then manage.
• Show leadership and direction – prime responsibility as a Government agency.
• Influence supply chain – importance of both external and internal impacts.
• Importance of raising expectations – building into the culture of the supply chain.

How should we measure carbon?

• Systems need to be based on consistent figures. It is important to have well defined rules/systems for assessing and measuring carbon.
• Doesn’t necessarily have to be standard accepted approach, but need to use a consistent system over time to allow for annual assessments that then allow organisations to drive down emissions over time.
• Need to define what is being measured – CO2, carbon, GHG baskets, etc.
• Recognition of challenges of handling parties in the supply chain. Can ask immediate suppliers, but often more difficult to manage/request data from further down the supply chain.
• Need for an aligned set of guidance for clarity of transport carbon.
• Don’t get lost in the calculations/numbers. Figures are meant to be an aid – not the be all and end all.

What should be measured?

• A lot of duplicated effort and inconsistent figures are being used throughout the UK this makes it hard to compare across organisations.
• Recognition that there are a lot of different models/approaches out there – potential for confusion.
• Need to consider who the information is going to be used by – is it for external and/or internal parties.
• A lot of focus on carbon measurement – particularly from commercial bodies. Need to assess who to use and be cautious with the "big promises" being made.
• Significant focus on source emissions rather than broader embedded and energy in use carbon. Thinking is starting to look at some of the more complicated issues associated with the "whole life cycle" of carbon.
• Need to document assumptions/thinking behind any approach taken. Expect to see a lot of scrutiny after any figures are released.
• A lot of perception that the science is still "confused", but there are definitive approaches to this issue. DEFRA greenhouse gas protocols/guidelines etc.
• But question over whether there are still barriers for parties accessing this information. Can partly be put down to imperfect knowledge and ignorance of the existence of such guidance.

Other Issues

• Importance of changing overall transport behaviours. This remains the really big issue – we need to look at all of the other elements of our carbon impacts – but ultimately transport source emissions will remain the largest and most significant area to influence.
• Limitations of public transport. Need to support more sustainable transport choices.
• Need to rethink how we operate. Build carbon and transport considerations into our everyday thinking. Need to think outside of the box and working smarter. Video conferencing?

Session 2

Why measure carbon?

• Carbon is a measure of energy and resource use. If you can reduce your carbon you will be reducing your use of energy and resources.
• Need for a consistent approach. Organisation could already be producing inconsistent figures – importance of having one collected and consistent measurement.
• Given growing interest, suppliers are starting to provide diverse and sometimes misleading claims about the carbon impacts of their products. Need to a consistent/transparent approach to bring everything under one roof.
• Starting to measure – allows you to make informed decisions.

How should we measure carbon?

• Gaps in embedded energy conversion factors. This is an area which is progressing, but still challenging.
• How far down the supply chain do we want to go?
• Need to develop systems to support the provision of underpinning carbon data.
• Commercial sensitivities – need to be careful how data is used. Possible challenge if a decision is made on the basis that a carbon calculation shows one product is better than others.
• How do we amend/back reference any carbon figures in light of changing DEFRA carbon factors? Need to consider data normalisation.
• Challenges of collecting data from suppliers – do we include whole-life cycle of supplied products. Should include energy, travel, etc.

Other issues

• Need to be conscious that carbon efficient doesn’t mean sustainable. Carbon needs to be considered within the broader umbrella of sustainability.
• Carbon assessment has gone a long way – but the elephant in the room is still managing travel behaviours – which will remain the major challenge.
• Confusion over what is being said and measures is leading to inaction and public alienation.
• Need to careful not to be blinded by the carbon. Its needs to be considered in the wider context of actually informing improved performance.
• Huge expectation that agencies will begin to report – but little consistency in reporting requirements. Parties are expecting information but aren’t providing consistent information/guidelines on how this information should be collated/presented.
• In an area that is continuing to evolve, how can we rely on any approaches/figures that are being produced?
• Big issue – different systems means difficulty in providing a single set of data from suppliers.

Key themes raised across both sessions

• Carbon measurement is necessary to improve decision making and monitoring and evaluation.
• Need for consistency in measurement, scope and definitions of what is being measured (does this include source and embedded) to ensure that outputs are meaningful.
• Need for engagement and consistency in data collection across the supply chain.
• Behaviour change is the key to emissions reduction and will present the biggest challenge.

Workshop 2

Adaptation: Preparing for the future

This session was Chaired by Donald Bell, Regional Director for Halcrow Ltd and was introduced by Dr Mike Winter, Regional Director, TRL Scotland and focused on the question of what is adaptation and what should it deliver?

The presentation identified a number of key elements that an adaptation strategy should deliver:

• Build resilience
• Be robust
• Continuous
• Capable of adapting to new information
• Integrated (mainstreaming climate change and sustainability)
• Appropriate in scale (large and small e.g. flood defences, adequate drainage)
• Involve relevant levels of decision making, technical know-how and solutions
• Addressed alongside actions that reduce emissions.
• Should not have a detrimental impact on other people’s/areas adaptation measures
• Immediate, demonstrate leadership

Dr Winter then moved on to pose some questions around the development of an adaptation strategy.

• Assumptions have to be made about extent of climate change.
• Risk assessment and management – to what extent do we manage change that has already happened as opposed to mitigating against predicted change.
• Are some risks unpreventable?
• How do we calibrate our actions with others internationally?
• Risk based approach to inform expenditure and budget priorities
• Analysis qualitative vs quantitative
• Risk analysis in absolute vs relative terms
• If it is an absolute, can we afford it?
• Where do the budgets come from?

In workshop 2 participants were split into three groups and asked to address three separate questions.

1) What risks should we manage and which should we mitigate?

2) What sort of risk based approach could we use? Risk matrices?

3) How do you spread the message?

Session 1:

1) What risks should we manage and which should we mitigate?

• Difficult to identify risks, risk = hazard x exposure.
• Not about identifying particular risks, more about identifying a way to deal with them.
• Learn from experience, previous events, what have we done well/badly, needs to be a process of continuous review and improvement.
• Use geographical/geotechnical information to best assess where we can have the biggest impact for the most appropriate level of resource.
• Share experience, identify who needs to know, more formal structures for sharing that information.
• UKCIP – use this data to test and inform work.
• Look in the mid-term rather than too far long term as things might change and you need to make best use of limited resource and base adaptation strategies on "known’s"
• Global issue, we are looking at a small part in Scotland, need to put a framework in place that we can work within.
• Need to develop an approach rather than try to deal in absolute risks.

2) What sort of risk based approach could we use? Risk matrices?

• Hazard x exposure, likelihood x impact.
• Can be defined in both qualitative and quantitative terms.
• Multifaceted.
• Need to develop a strategy appropriate to the particular risk.
• Develop mitigation strategy for the risk and give someone ownership of it.
• Different risks; maintenance vs new build schemes.
• Need different approaches and have different factors to consider
  • Cost
  • Management measures
• Best value for money – need to consider in the round and take a holistic view.
• Accident frequencies.
• Timescales for the actions to be taken.
• Political imperatives; are there other risk management measures that can achieve the same ends without the same level of investment, VMS vs road realignment.
• Communication – local people, road users, asset management.
• Effectiveness and practicality of intervention.
• Vulnerability of the travelling public, e.g. Fort William to Mallaig.
• What is the environmental impact of the work? Need to ensure that your adaptation action doesn’t impact negatively on broader environment.

3) How do you spread the message?

• Message spreading itself, self evident, changes in growing season etc.
• Thinking about environmental consequences of actions from design to decommissioning – need to think about the "whole life".
• Public perception, need to give people information about the benefits they are getting from different approaches, this will also help people understand the costs and the value they are getting for their money.

Adaptation Messages

• Recognise and manage risk.
• Where we are aware of and can manage the risk, put procedures in place and pass on information.
• Be clear about what is achievable and communicate this to the public.
• International benchmarking as a tool, share best practice and transfer information.
• Inform consultants, public, Governments, share knowledge and forecast with confidence.
• Need to have good quality information and use responsibly "don’t panic".
• People need clear signposting not scaremongering.
• Feedback – continuous improvement – how did we perform?
• Cost awareness – let people know what they can get for their money – service level agreements for costs.
• Need to get a message out about management and adaptation rather than prevention – managing expectation, recognition of what you can mange and what you cannot.
• More information about risks – landslip study – landslips are nobody’s fault, if people know they are in a high risk area they may be more willing to accept the risk. Quality of information, accessibility of information?
• Building public confidence.

Mitigation

• Already doing a lot, climate change message is accepted now; no one questions the need to have this sort of seminar.
• Different roles for different bodies, create a level of expectation, we all need to play our part and know what that is.
• Cost comparison feeding in to carbon calculation, should be able to demonstrate the benefit of different options.
• Needs to become something that we just do.

Session 2

1) Which risks do we manage and which do we mitigate?

• High profile risks get most exposure, is this how we prioritise?
• More managing to do than with mitigation.
• Flooding, high rainfall – things that can be managed like drainage, but in high risk areas there is a higher cost as greater action has to be taken.
• Rising sea levels and coastal flooding means that these things can only be mitigated in high risk areas and this is how it must be prioritised.
• Landslips, mitigation in high risk areas, management elsewhere.
• Mitigation costs money – management is the day to day.
• Increase in traffic - can try and manage demand from individuals but also consider business and freight, how do we manage this?
• Increased costs need to be managed – e.g. higher costs for gritting of roads, everything will cost more.
• Can only manage on the basis of the timeline and the best available information, clear issue around the cost – can only do what we can do with the resource that we have.

2) How do you develop a risk based approach?

• Try to identify likely risks.
• Flooding, wind, temperature rise, population shift as a result of increased temperatures, sea level rise, drought.
• Likelihood vs severity.
• Flooding – fairly likely to happen, fairly likely to be severe.
• High Wind as a risk factor is fairly likely to occur but fairly low risk as most existing infrastructure will probably be robust enough to stand up to it.
• Lots that we don’t know need to react in a dynamic way to new information.

3) How are you going to communicate this?

• Education most significant factor – future generations, young to older.
• Reality now, reports indicate that action needs to be taken within two years to prevent more than a two degree increase in temperature.
• Need stick and carrot.
• Need to use media to persuade people with evidence to change behaviour.
• Individual is important – need to understand why "I" have to do anything what’s in it for me?
• Use education to encourage behaviour change to make the "stick" more palatable.
• Need to get the long term view out that change now will benefit people’s lives in the future, short term pain for long term gain, plastic bags issue as example, now totally publicly acceptable to charge for plastic bags, take old ones back to the shop, purchase and use bags for life, can we learn from this example and use the same model to target specific issues.
• Modal Shift is the key thing we could deliver through improved communication.
• Could then use the adaptation information and predictions to scare/persuade people to encourage modal shift.
• Hopefully this will lead to public acceptance of legislative changes that will have to come forward to deliver modal shift.
• Could we have a National Carbon indicator for the whole of Scotland, not just the public sector? Could be linked to Scotland Performs? A Blue Peter Totaliser for emissions in Scotland.

Key themes across both sessions

• Critical to take a risk based approach to adaptation interventions and be aware of the impact that any adaptation measure you pursue may have on other environmental issues.
• Important to prioritise and make the best use of information to constantly review and update your understanding.
• Need to be proactive and honest with the public about what the risks are and why action is or isn’t being taken to address different issues, the public need to understand the value they are getting for their money.
• Delivering behaviour change and modal shift is the key to emissions reduction.

Workshop 3

Design Standards: How can we encourage innovation?

This workshop was chaired by Ken Laing, Director of Contract Services, Dundee City Council and focused on the design standards utilised in the construction and maintenance of highways – namely the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB). Both sessions were provided with a presentation from Neil Wands, Head of Standards, Traffic & Economics in Transport Scotland. The presentation provided an overview of the volumes contained within DMRB and the process for developing/modifying standards (i.e. the Technical Project Board); it also posed the question, do we need innovation, and if so, how can we encourage innovation?

An open discussion followed the presentation and it was clear from both sessions that the DMRB is perceived to be a slowly evolving set of standards that potentially represents a barrier to the use of sustainable techniques, and may indeed stifle innovation.

Session 1

DMRB Design Standards

• Current approach is roughly a 10-20 year cycle with new standards and revision of standards overseen by a Technical Project Board (with Interim Advice Notes (IANs) issued in the interim).
• We need to move quicker to adapt; innovation is currently just evolution, maybe the structures in place are not responsive enough to our changing environment.
• In maintenance we need to make interventions last longer, and quicker to implement (and get off network). Design standards should take more cognisance of how asset will need to be maintained.
• DMRB should have more ‘performance-based’ specifications.
• Performance-based material with a (say 20 year) guarantee carries risk for supplier.
• DMRB is result of many years of best practice, but departures from standard should be freely allowed where innovation/better practice comes along. This may need the overseeing organisation to take the lead on.
• Encouraging multi-modal designs that also encourage non-motorised travel (i.e. more incorporation of walking/cycling provision).

How to encourage use of recycled materials

• Not supported by current Design Manual.
• Is client too strict on use of DMRB in which standards may be too prescriptive (not enough flexibility)?
• Local Authority may prefer ‘simplified’ version of Design Manual, due to lack of resources to implement and decipher lengthy standards.

Procurement Models - International materials may be cheaper to procure than locally sourced materials

• Procurement could specify ‘local’ materials. Don’t specify contracts only on quality and price.
• Recycled materials need a measure of control, e.g. Local Authority could specify that only their recycled material could be used in a contract.
• Resource Management procurement model where supplier/consultant (e.g. waste management consultant) only gets paid on savings that they make for client (i.e. performance based pay).
• Road geometry and congestion - reduce delay times at junctions to reduce idling times and congestion (e.g. use less at-grade roundabouts).
• More grade separation should be considered.
• Carbon reduction should be considered in project appraisal process, but it needs to be strategically modelled to ensure problem isn’t just transferred elsewhere.

Funding and Value for Money

• Design solutions should also aim to be low-cost to deliver better VFM, as we now have to work to limited budgets.
• H&S Executive pressing for more road closures (which leads to more congestion and greater emissions). This is an example of an area where we need to engage with wider stakeholders.
• SCOTS could influence ‘Designing Streets’ document - Is there an opportunity to build a national standard that has more flexibility than DMRB?

Session 2

Design Standards for HOV Lanes

• HOV/ATM/Hard Shoulder Running needs more research and appropriate standard developed. This will take a long time to develop so IAN required?
• HOV lanes linked to Park and Ride sites?
• HOV lanes will require enforcement resources via Police (or alternatively could be decriminalised and enforced by Roads Authority; which would require extra resources).

Materials Standards

• Cold in-situ recycling (TRL611) can provide quick CO2 wins. Understanding for use may not be there. Risk issues are present due to fears over performance.
• Are we permitting opportunity for innovation? Needs more openness/flexibility and less prescription.
• Easier for new-build schemes, difficult to have flexibility for maintenance schemes.
• ‘Streets’ design agenda draws on international best-practice.
• Need to encourage innovation, but not forget best-practice and experience (i.e. reality check required).
• Academics need to be ‘led’ by practitioners to ensure delivery of practical, workable solutions (rather than just an academic exercise).
• Past experience leads to reluctance to bring on innovation due to experiences that didn’t work.
• We should be less prescriptive in material standards and be more focussed on performance outcomes (this encourages innovation).
• Drainage/SUDS - we need to look at international experience to learn the techniques we may need in future.
• Real drainage capacity figures should be used as opposed to historical event terminology (e.g. 1 in 200 year storms). This will cause less confusion to the public.
• Design storms and standards may need revised again quite soon (currently there is a 20% sensitivity check on rainfall intensity required in Scotland).
• If SUDS require infiltration do design standards take this into account (i.e. longer duration storms will lead to less permeability)?
• Vehicle Loadings
• MSA may be inappropriate method for determining structural requirements for local or ‘specialist’ roads. Heavy vehicles are not adequately catered for. This leads to earlier interventions being required.
• More research required for local roads structural requirements, as design standards are more geared for motorways/trunk roads.
• Conversely, does lane 3 on a dual carriageway need to be so thick? Differential thickness may be better.
• Freight companies will try to reduce their costs by introducing heavier loads, leading to greater pavement deterioration.

Key themes across both sessions

• Need to learn from experience and share best practice.
• Need to ensure that design standards are not too prescriptive and do not stifle innovation, decisions should be taken based on performance
• DMRB should be more flexible to allow for continuous improvement and to allow it to be adapted to accommodate new information.

Workshop 4

International Experience: What can we learn from others?

This workshop was chaired by Lisa Rossiter, National Standards Manager, New Zealand Transport Agency and focused on international experiences and what we can learn from other countries. This workshop benefitted from having several delegates from the World Roads Association, Preserving the Environment Technical Committee both presenting and in attendance. Presentations on this issue were provided by Duncan McLaren, Friends of the Earth; Dimitris Mandalozis, WRA Committee Member from the Attica Tollway, Greece; and Pierre Dorchies, WRA Committee Member, Sintra Inc, Canada for the first session and again by Duncan McLaren and Hirofumi Ohnishi, Worlds Roads Association Committee Member, Japan, and Douglas Simmons, Worlds Roads Association Committee Member, Maryland, US for the second session.

At both the sessions Duncan McLaren outlined several key issues in relation to emissions reduction challenging delegates to see emissions reduction as more of an urgent issue than adaptation and also to look at the avoidance of the need to travel in the first instance. He highlighted the need not to consider road transport in isolation, to make more efficient use of road infrastructure and to use road space more strategically.

Dimitris Mandalozis provided information on the Attica Tollway in Athens, Greece and explained the history, extent, construction and, pertinent to the discussion, highlighted that public opinion is much better now than previously. He also outlined the future challenges for roads generally through the use of Intelligent Transport Systems, open road tolling and the management of road space.

Pierre Dorchies outlined at a strategic level issues in Canada covering areas such as transport construction and maintenance, whether there should be a road tax for road emissions, and public attitudes/acceptance/modal shift and behavioural changes; he also highlighted that the low density of population means that mass public transit was not an easy an option as in some parts of Europe.

The second session heard from Hirofumi Ohnishi, and how Japan has managed to decouple transport CO2 emissions and economic growth showing that C02 emissions can be reduced without a resultant decrease in economic growth, there has also been a reduction in time lost due to congestion between 2003 and 2006.

Douglas Simmons outlined the position in Maryland where there is a lack of strategic policy context in the US overall and no specific requirement at a federal/state level to take action on emissions reduction. However Maryland is a high emitter of emissions and is also a very vulnerable areas of the US in terms of rising sea levels and there are some projects underway looking at congestion charging and pricing on a variety of fronts such as pay as you go insurance.

Both sessions of the workshop were run as open forums, with participants being asked to identify the major challenges, issues and key points which we can learn from others. The workshop chair Lisa Rossiter summed up the key points from the discussion at the end of each workshop session.

Session 1

Management of demand: solutions

• What do people think about the issues? Other approaches to managing demand and what have they found as solutions?
• Flooding - and demand management of the demand for water to be carried away from the road infrastructure.
• There are various answers/solutions to these problems - package of a number of measures and adding them in different ways as a complete solution
• Looking at water flows in urban areas they have often used analogies with traffic.
• There is no silver bullet - has the issue of carbon been elevated above others? Impacts of construction and maintenance appraisal and decision making processes: competing priorities?

Appraisal

• Pure environmental perspective and economic development - (emerging) economies – we all need to look at both aspects - sustainability and impacts on the planet should be tested in the options process.
• There needs to be a sustainability appraisal and economic development should not always be viewed as the trump card.
• Where a city already has a lot of problems: traffic, pollution, to help city to develop the key is to help to mitigate the environmental impacts while trying to keep road in a free flow condition.
• Now expansion of the network: how to protect existing network - make sure no adverse affect on existing roads.
• Appraisal process/monetary value of carbon/long-term life cycles.
• With economies driven by profit. When can we put a price on carbon? If we change the design of a road - we need to price carbon long-term.
• STAG - we do price carbon in a monetary value - through the whole scheme there is monetisation. How does this work when used in the appraisal Vs decision making process.
• STAG - refreshed this earlier this year - reporting on carbon - looking ahead and given the fact that we now put before decision makers the impacts of carbon.
• Looking also at monitoring and evaluation - short and medium term and taking corrective actions.
• How it is viewed/seen is now more important.
• In England all recent road schemes - contribute to carbon emissions the shadow price in appraisal is relative. Ministers/road buyers don't pay the real price in terms of carbon.

Vehicle Production/Energy Sources

• Vehicle production as well as carbon from usage of the roads C02 from car regulation from European Parliament last week - driving down C02s, encouraging use of best in class, smaller vehicles, lesser emissions, progress through the production process.
• Who knows what emissions are attributable to their own cars?
• Electric vehicles: FT article about lack of global lithium (sources of energy for production). Questions around source energy. Package of energy in production as well as end use.
• Sticking plasters don't help in the long term.

Leadership/personal responsibility

• Minister - knows how many hours spend walking! Something in this, encouraging people to keep travel diaries understand the impact of individual journeys.
• Need to have the data for good management.

Public Sector Procurement/buying power

• What is within our gift to do/change: public sector procurement and buying power?
• Writing into contracts that all contractors have to use low emissions vehicles, 4G contracts: the public sector's buying and spending power.
• Whose job is it but ours?
• What other practical initiatives can transport professionals deliver?
• Can we have a step change - selling the case and stop tinkering around the edges - don't have the time to wait - Government has to lead by example. Politicians still do not like to take difficult decisions. Everyone has to do their bit.
• Production for low emissions.
• In Japan regulations imposed on manufacturing sector for low emissions:
• C02 decreased in Japan - related to improvement in mileage of vehicles.
• Development of hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles. Unique to Japan number of light vehicles increasing in Japan.
• Can this backfire so that people feel less guilty about driving - another type of plaster or useful for those unavoidable journeys?
• European trading scheme.
• Green is cheaper if you see if 30 year lifecycle/even longer?
• Communications: how do we communicate with our road users/travelling public?

• Land use planning/planning and transport integration/use of land and movement of people.
• Land-use planning, NZ experience and situation where transport issues were hard to deal with through the planning system. NZ further ahead than where we are in Scotland.
• Need to persevere with better integration between transport and land-use planning and be patient. In NZ now transport at all tables with planners. Absolutely intertwined and have to be dealt with. Regional level is now OK in NZ but not locally yet. As many planners in transport in NZ as there are transport professionals looking at planning issues.

Other tools

• Non fiscal charging, carbon credits, carbon wallets - would this have a more direct impact.
• Intelligent Transport Systems: safety and maximise efficiency of road networks - getting more cars flowing on network or should we be doing this by levels of emissions instead of number of cars free-flowing?

Session Two

What can we do on mitigation?

• How can we be role models, Minister with travel diary and detailed understanding of the implications of his travel choices?
• What are we going to do over the next 2 years for us as land-use and transport engineers?
• Adaptation is not the most important issue - focus should be on mitigation.
• Limited resources both financial and human and therefore resource should be directed and as focussed as possible. Hearing more about adaptation than about mitigation.
• What can we do over the next few years on the mitigation front?
• Technology can help us? And we seem to be waiting for this to go bang?

SMART Measures/flexible working/behavioural change

• Home working and flexible working.
• Lead by personal example and just worked from home - still productive.
• Home workers are more productive but we are still social beings and there are benefits through formal and informal information exchange in an office environment.
• Changing people’s behaviours - short-term measure.
• Particular challenges in rural areas, possible solution to go to a base in a rural area where you can still meet others but walk there and avoid need to travel by a mode of transport other than walking.

Transport & Land-Use Planning

• Patterns of demand that we have at the moment: base of issue.
• Control of public transport to meet land use required transport demands Maryland - transport and land use planning not aligned. Decisions taken that mean that people can live distant from work/leisure destinations without any transport input.
• NZ example - better integration of transport and land-use planning – greater alignment - huge amount of work.
• Japan - simple model and approach that has achieved a reduction looking at other economic tools such as road pricing.

Intelligent Transport Systems

• ITS - efficient management of networks - could be based on C02 instead of traffic capacity.
• Average speed cameras at road works - you get more traffic through here and the traffic behaves better. M42 - improvements in road safety here due to Active Traffic Management. Speed has a lot to do with driver behaviour as well. If we limited people to travel at 40 mph on the M8 we would get more cars through, more safely, and maybe reduced emissions? This would not be accepted by public. Cries of nanny state.

Winning hearts & minds & Pilots

• Cultural learning in Stockholm - implement for a year - measure what happens, let people experience it and then have a referendum. Stockholm referendum was successful.
• Vast majority of local authority areas are rural areas. Integration of public transport options required - better buses in rural areas.
• We are the ones to take the initiatives here - let's do a pilot - and then evaluate it.
• We need to take a lead and demonstrate what is possible

Key themes in both sessions

• Mitigation and behaviour change are the most important issues.
• Need to demonstrate leadership with our own choices and approaches to things like home working, rural hub offices etc as well as in exercising our influence in terms of procurement through the supply chain.
• Need to use projected emissions impacts in investment decision making processes.