Policy Recommendations

This brief highlights that although electric and hydrogen transport are considered ‘zero emission’ at their point of use, their true environmental impact is determined by the electricity used to ‘fuel’ these vehicles. Therefore, as there is a global effort to meet Paris Agreement targets, priority needs to be placed on decarbonising public transport and encouraging sustainable and long-term travel. Furthermore, it is likely that a combination of both electric and hydrogen public transport options will need to be incorporated into the transport network to ensure range requirements are met. Although there are trade-offs and environmental impacts of incorporating low carbon transport, without significant changes net zero targets are not going to be met. By learning from the successes and failures of other countries who are at the forefront of technology, there is the opportunity for a collaborative advancement and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.