Hammond says behaviour change needed to meet carbon targets
Fri 10 September 2010
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In a major speech on sustainable transport policy, the Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said that the Coalition Government is committed to the sustainability agenda in everything it does, including transport. He said that addressing the urgent and unavoidable challenges of climate change are a key part of ensuring sustainability. Speaking at an event organised by the Prince of Wales, START and IBM, Mr Hammond said that behaviour changes as well as technological advances will be needed to cut carbon emissions from transport.
Mr Hammond said: "By embracing them [new automotive technologies] - renewable energy, electric vehicle technology, sustainable biofuels - we can not only make progress towards our carbon reduction targets, but can also build the basis of a more diversified and sustainable industry, based on these new technologies of the post-carbon era.
"That doesn't mean that technology alone will deliver sustainability: behaviour change will also be necessary - in the short-term because technological change alone will not get us where we need to be fast enough on the urgent agenda of greenhouse gas reduction, but in the longer-term because other elements of a sustainable transport solution - in particular, dealing with congestion - cannot be solved by technological advance alone."
He added: "...our task in the months ahead is to develop a set of transport policies that will contribute to a genuinely sustainable society: promoting green growth within a framework of local devolution, fiscal stability and social mobility."
For the minister's full speech, please follow the related link.
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