The government’s policy to prevent the sale of internal-combustion-powered private cars and light vans by 2030 is a serious societal challenge across the UK in general and for rural communities in particular.
Whilst accepting the overwhelming need to decelerate the rate of climate change, it should be recognised that a one-size-fits-all approach to decarbonising transport will not achieve the desired outcomes. It could be argued that the government’s Road to Zero industrial strategy is urban-centric and does not reflect adequately the different needs across the UK. This paper aims to consider a range of possible outcomes for the rural community of current options for transport decarbonisation.
The paper discusses what makes the rural environment unique, meaning it requires different consideration in policy-making. We know, for example, that the population profile of a rural environment is very different from an urban profile combined with the remoteness of some areas makes the economics of transport very different from urban settings. This in turn makes decarbonisation a potentially different challenge to face.
A feature of the rural environment is there are vast differences between rural areas. Any average data masks the considerable variations between areas which will impact levels of adoption of transport solutions and change. In developing policy there is often a risk of looking at the extreme ends of the scale of ruralness, and so we need to be conscious of generalising too much and consider solutions along that continuum.
