15 March 2023

UK targets for climate change could be possible ‘without car mileage cut.’

New research undertaken by The Climate Change Committee (CCC) suggests the reduction in total carbon emissions from cars necessary to meet the UKs climate change goals could be achieved without drivers travelling less overall, however this would require a drastic increase in electric vehicle adoption rates.

The CCC’s balanced net zero pathway creates a path to net zero with its Sixth Carbon Budget (2033-2037). To keep in line with this it requires annual c02 emissions from cars to fall from roughly 57 million tonnes to around 34 million tonnes by 2030. The equates to a 40% drop in CO2 emissions.

The take up of electric vehicles and the departure of petrol and diesel cars from the UKs vehicle fleet are key factors that will determine whether the required cuts in carbon emissions are likely to be met.

The latest Government data shows out of 33.2 million cars licensed in the UK, 548,000 are pure battery electric, less than 2%. In 2022 over 1.5 million cars were sold in the UK, just over 250,000 were battery electric.

Fleet managers are advised to focus on where drivers can be more cost effective and eradicate unnecessary mileage where they can. Approximately 4.5% of drivers in the UK drive more than 15,000 miles a year which equates to 41 miles per day.