UK’s King Review of Low-Carbon Cars Publishes Recommendations for Action

14 March 2008

Professor Julia King has issued the final report of her Review of low-carbon cars—Part II: recommendations for action—which builds on the analysis of environmental challenges and opportunities for road transport that were set out in Part I: the potential for CO₂ reduction, published last year. (Earlier post.)

The King Review was launched by the previous UK Chancellor at Budget 2007 to examine the vehicle and fuel technologies that could help to decarbonize road transport, particularly cars, over the next 25 years. The final report makes recommendations in four key areas: reducing vehicle emissions; cleaner fuels; consumer behaviour; and research and development. Among the short-term recommendations is moving the focus of European policy back to automotive technology from biofuels.

The Review has been led by Professor Julia King, Vice Chancellor of Aston University and former Director of Advanced Engineering at Rolls-Royce plc. She is working with Lord Nicholas Stern, who published the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change (2006). (Earlier post.)

The Review also makes a number of recommendations to enable the UK to play a leading role in low-CO₂ automotive developments and seize the opportunities that a move to lower emissions road transport can offer.

My report today has a very positive message - that major reductions of CO₂ emissions from road transport in the years ahead are possible. But seizing these opportunities will require action from everyone, with Government playing a leading role. Government must coordinate efforts in an international context and provide the leadership to allocate responsibilities amongst vehicle manufacturers, fuel companies and consumers. My report today sets out where the UK Government should take on a strong leadership role, both in driving European and international consensus and in national policy, where measures to incentivize smart consumer behaviour can be particularly effective.

—Professor Julia King

Part I of the report found that the almost complete de-carbonization of road transport is a realistic long-term objective, through electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles. This will require major technological breakthroughs as well as substantial progress towards de-carbonizing the power sector.

The first report also concluded that at low cost and by 2030, per kilometer emissions could be reduced by 50%—equivalent to a 30%t reduction in the absolute level of emissions. These significant reductions in CO₂ from road transport are achievable in the short term through progress on bringing new technologies to market and smart consumer choices such as buying a low-carbon vehicle, as well as some contribution from biofuels. Fuels, the report said, must be considered on the basis of their life-cycle CO₂ emissions.

Recommendations from Part II

Reducing vehicle greenhouse gas emissions. The Review welcomes the EU’s proposed regulatory approach for a g/km greenhouse gas emission target for vehicles, and supports the target date of 2012, “which is challenging but technically feasible”. The review:

• Supports the implementation of the 130 g/km target based on the sales weighted average emissions of new cars sold in the EU.

• Agrees with the EU proposals for setting individual manufacturer targets and supports the EU’s plans to monitor the weight of vehicles in the run up to, and following implementation of, the legislation, to ensure that it does not provide manufacturers with perverse incentives to increase vehicle weight.

• Recommends the adoption of a 100g/km new car sales weighted average target for 2020.

• Recommends that the EU set in place a process for regular target setting every 7-10 years (or in line with future model cycles) to ensure that the industry can invest in and bring CO2 saving technologies to market with certainty about the standards that the EU will require.

• Recommends that the UK Department for Transport, working with the European Commission, should work to design a CO2 target for vehicles that captures the full CO2 impact of vehicle production, disposal, usage and the production of the fuel or power used by the car.

Cleaner fuels. The review suggests the implementation of a Low Carbon Transport Fuel Obligation (LCTFO), alongside other options to link the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation to life-cycle CO₂ emissions already under consideration. The LCFTO should be enforced through a system of tradable credits.

The review proposes that the European Commission develop policy instruments to provide flexibility between fuel and vehicle targets, such as allowing trade of credits between targets. In the absence of flexibility between targets, EU mandates on fuels and vehicles should be balanced such that the overall costs of reducing CO₂ emissions are minimized—at present, the review concludes, this suggests vehicle targets should be more stringent relative to fuel targets.

Other clean fuels recommendations include:

• The UK Government should assess the case for inclusion of road transport in trading schemes such as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (with fuels suppliers as the regulated entity).

• The EU Fuel Quality Directive target on CO₂ (requiring a 10% reduction in the carbon intensity of fuels by 2020) should be revised downwards and a gentler compliance trajectory be implemented to reduce the risk of damaging land-use change from large increases in biofuels production.

• The Department for Transport should lead on developing an agreed EU methodology for measuring the land efficiency of a biofuel, and consider how this might be reflected in policy options within the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation and EU targets.

• Policies to prevent environmentally damaging land-use change around the world should continue to be developed as a matter of urgency alongside specific measures to reduce the land-use impacts of biofuels.

• The UK Government should continue to work internationally on developing a sustainable global market for biofuels by: encouraging convergence of global policies on fuels; working towards an internationally agreed carbon and sustainability reporting methodology; and reducing barriers to trade in biofuels.

• The European Commission should conduct a study to assess the cost-effectiveness of different measures to enable blends of biofuels of 10% or greater by energy content—reporting before 2010—and use this to inform any future decisions on vehicle and fuel specifications.

• Options to facilitate the efficient use of electric vehicles (such as smart-metering, time-of-day pricing, and fast charging points) should be considered alongside existing work by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) on smart-metering in the home and the Government’s eco-towns initiative. In addition, BERR, the Department for Transport, and the power industry should include the impact of electric vehicles on the electricity grid in relevant scenario planning.

Consumer choices. The section on consumer choice contains the largest number of recommendations. The report suggests that Government should strengthen demand-side policy measures to enable and encourage consumers to choose best in class or downsize. A package of measures is required to deliver change.

Among measures recommended are:

• The extension of fuel economy and CO₂labels beyond new vehicles to cover second-hand cars sold through dealerships.

• Color-coded tax discs introduced by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency for cars registered from March 2001 that reflect the CO₂ emissions of the vehicle.

• Regulation of vehicle advertising should be strengthened so that information on CO₂ emissions and fuel economy is presented in a more prominent and consistent form in advertisements across all media. This should include a requirement to display comparative information on emissions relative to other vehicles in class. The Review recommends that the Department for Transport should establish an advisory group including the advertising industry and the Committee of Advertising Practice to gather and review available evidence and recommend the regulatory standards that consumers would find most helpful, reporting with specific proposals by the end of 2008.

• The Department for Transport should develop and reinforce the “ACT ON CO2” campaign.

• The Department for Children, Schools and Families should ensure that children of all ages have the opportunity in school to learn how driving contributes to CO2 emissions and how different choices can reduce its impact.

• Local measures introduced with the objective of reducing CO₂ should be based on carbon emissions rather than technology, equally incentivizing all vehicles with equivalent CO2 emissions; be maintained for a reasonable period of time to give consumers confidence in opting for lower emission vehicles; not encourage people to drive more, by making it easier or cheaper to do so, leading to increased congestion and higher CO₂ emissions.

• All public bodies should look to match central government by setting an ambition to reduce the average emissions of new vehicles procured for administrative purposes to 130g/km by 2010-11.

• The Department for Transport should work with the European Commission and manufacturers to ensure an evidence base is developed on what dashboard technology could be safely incorporated into vehicles to promote more efficient driving. The European Commission should then regulate to make appropriate technology mandatory in all new vehicles sold in the EU. The Government should also promote and incentivize the retrofitting of technology to existing vehicles.

• All local authorities should ensure that smarter choices are a priority in their local transport strategy.

• The Department for Transport should work with local authorities to establish how a widespread implementation of personal travel planning could be sustainably funded. To strengthen the evidence base on the benefits of personal travel planning in different settings, the Department for Transport should consider establishing new pilots to assess the effectiveness of personal travel planning in larger urban areas.

• All large public sector bodies should have a workplace travel plan in place by 2010.

• Local authorities should consider promoting car clubs in their area as part of their local transport strategy. The Department for Transport should also raise awareness of car clubs so that people can make informed decisions over whether they are an appropriate option for them.

Research and Development. The Review is supportive of the Government’s increased expenditure on R&D in recent years and recommends to Government and independent bodies responsible for public R&D funding that they increase the share of the funding assigned to low-carbon R&D, including low-carbon vehicles.

Among the specific recommendations in this section are:

• Organizations conducting and funding R&D should establish and publish clear statements setting out the distinctive roles that they will undertake, to provide clarity at the earliest opportunity. In addition, the current arrangements as a whole should be evaluated by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and HM Treasury in terms of effectiveness and value for money in advance of the next Government Spending Review.

• The Technology Strategy Board and its partners should extend the Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform to provide clear demonstration opportunities for new low-carbon vehicle technologies through implementation of experimental fleets linked to future procurement opportunities.

• The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) should review the current support mechanisms for assisting companies in winning EU funds, and report by the end of 2008 on whether some of the other TSB “products”, such as the Knowledge Transfer Networks, could play a stronger role in this area. The TSB should also work to strengthen UK influence within the Framework 7 transport programs.

• The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs should facilitate an informed public debate, by exploring emerging evidence on the risks and benefits of genetically modified plants for non-food applications, in the context of the impact of climate change and wider sustainability issues.

• The new Research Centre on Sustainable Behaviours should make low-carbon cars an early priority, including the potential for future approaches to road charging, drawing on the Department for Transport’s findings.

• The Research Councils should urgently identify a limited number of critical long-term challenges and focus research efforts and funding around them, exploring innovative approaches to instil a sense of urgency and excitement for the research community and the wider public.

• The UK Government should explore with other EU countries whether an EU level prize could be developed to find low-cost solutions for retrofitting to existing cars to reduce their emissions by a minimum of, say, 25%.

• The Research Councils and the Technology Strategy Board should examine whether it would be possible for their grant mechanisms to support innovative entries for major international prizes.

• Government, industry and research bodies should look to forge links with counterparts around the world. More specifically, the Government should work with the Technology Strategy Board and other potential partners including the Research Councils, The British Council and UK Trade & Investment to design and fund a programme to support consortia of Indian and UK companies and universities to develop and demonstrate the “lowcost, low-emissions car”.

Resources

• The King Review of low-carbon cars Part II: recommendations for action