New research predicts continuing rise in CO2 emissions from freight
Fri 05 October 2007
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A report for the Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT) says that CO2 emissions from freight transport in the UK are likely to continue rising over the next ten years. The Heriot Watt University report was prepared to provide input to the CfIT's broader report on transport and CO2. It aims to shed more light on the subject of freight-related emissions which have received less attention than emissions from car traffic and aviation.
The report begins by assessing the validity of government statistics on CO2 emissions from the freight sector and reveals significant discrepancies between estimates derived in different ways.
Using what are considered the most reliable estimation methods, it is suggested that domestic freight transport in the UK generated 33.7 million tonnes of CO2 in 2004, roughly 21% of emissions from the transport sector and 6% of total emissions from all sectors. Road transport accounted for 92% of these freight-related CO2 emissions.
Professor Alan McKinnon of Heriot Watt University's Logistics Research Centre who prepared the report, presented two illustrative scenarios for future emissions trends. Under the 'more realistic' scenario, emissions from the sectore are predicted to rise by 2% between 2004 and 2015.
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