RHA welcomes realistic analysis of road haulage CO2 emissions

The RHA welcomed a study by researchers at Heriot-Watt University which should change the way the carbon performance of the road haulage industry is viewed.

The carbon intensity of freight moved by HGVs in the UK appears to have fallen by 6% (by tonne/km) in the period 1990-2005 rather than to have risen by 11%, as official figures have until recently suggested.

“This finding will ring true to everyone working in the road haulage sector,” says director of policy Jack Semple. “Professor Alan McKinnon and his research associate Maja Peick have provided much-needed balance and accuracy to the way we view road haulage, the dominant mode of moving goods and a key engine of our economy.

“Their research notes that estimates of growth in CO2 emissions from trucks between 1990 and 2005 have been revised downwards by a factor of three, to just 10%; and their recommendations in terms of transparency, refinements of data-gathering techniques and the need to publicise substantial revisions in official figures are well made.

“The researchers at Heriot-Watt are to be congratulated on a robust report that should be a pivotal piece of analysis in the debate over CO2 and climate change,” Semple says.