How can we encourage more sustainable travel behaviours?

Background

The reducing environmental impacts strategic priority is in recognition that there is an environmental aspect to all transport, and therefore almost all the work of DfT. Transport is the largest emitting sector of greenhouse gases in the UK, contributing 27% of domestic emissions in 2019. Our transport system must change to deliver the government’s Net Zero ambition and DfT will drive forwards that change through our longer-term green transport agenda. On decarbonisation specifically, we published our Transport decarbonisation plan (TDP) in July 2021, which sets out the steps we will take to deliver the necessary carbon reductions across every form of transport. Sustainability will be at the heart of levelling-up. People everywhere will feel the benefits – villages, towns, cities, and countryside will be cleaner, greener, healthier and more prosperous and pleasant environments in which to live and work

Next steps

Get in touch with bridgetoresearch@dft.gov.uk

Source

This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:

DFT-Areas of research interest 2023 GOV UK

Related UKRI funded projects


  • Sandpit: Transport Behaviours Network.

    This Network extends the December 2010, UK Research Councils Ideas Factory "Transport Grand Challenge: Travel behaviour, habits and practice". The Ideas Factory drew attention to the significant contribution th...

    Funded by: EPSRC

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on changing travel behavior to increase the use of lower carbon transport, which aligns with the goal of encouraging more sustainable travel behaviors.

  • SANDPIT - Disruption: the raw material for low carbon change

    Evidence suggests that we will need to change our travel habits and practices radically if we are to reduce the carbon emissions from transport to meet government and international targets. Technological developments suc...

    Funded by: EPSRC

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project explores how disruptions in everyday life can lead to more permanent carbon-reducing changes in travel practices, which is relevant to encouraging sustainable travel behaviors.

  • ADAPT fellowship: smart approaches to influencing sustainable behaviour change

    This EPSRC/LWEC Challenge Fellowship addresses the question "How can our cities, their hinterlands, linking infrastructure, rural surround and the regions they are in, be transformed to be resilient, sustainable, mo...

    Funded by: EPSRC

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project addresses the question of how to influence people to take voluntary action for mitigating and adapting to environmental change, which is partially relevant to encouraging sustainable travel behaviors.

  • Providing insights into multi-day traveller behaviour to inform sustainable transport policies and practices

    A good understanding of traveller behaviour underpins all policies which are effective in influencing travel behaviour to reduce congestion, increase activity levels, improve air quality and/or reduce carbon emissions. I...

    Funded by: ESRC

  • Providing realtime Information for Personal Travel (PIPT)

    PIPT will help develop ‘Carbon Diem’ (conceived by Carbon Hero, working with industry partner InterfaceFLOR, sustainability and UX experts Wax-RDC and dissemination advocates from the Centre for Sustainable Deisgn), a mo...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

  • UPBEAT: User-centred Pro-active Behavioural Economics Acting on Travel

    Our excessive dependence on motorised road transport imposes significant economic costs on society, such as congestion, pollution and physical inactivity and the ill health caused by it. UPBEAT is an app designed to comb...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

  • ICF: Healthy Low-Carbon Transport Hub (HLTH)

    Accelerated transport decarbonisation is essential for the UK to meet CO2e emissions requirements. Measures adopted must maximise physical/mental health co-benefits, but this has not been the case historically. Replacing...

    Funded by: MRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Southampton

  • Inspiring Futures for Zero Carbon Mobility (INFUZE)

    Transportation is the largest contributor of carbon emissions in the UK (23%). Tackling transport emissions is one of the defining challenges of the UK Government's Net Zero Strategy. The Climate Change Committee consist...

    Funded by: EPSRC

  • Supporting Sustainable Transport Infrastructure Maintenance (Research In the Wild)

    Helping to address the sustainability agenda through informed personal travel has been an area of intense research activity with many new forms of information collection and dissemination having been investigated. Much l...

    Funded by: EPSRC

  • GoGreen - Getting Staff There The Green Way

    **GoGreen - Feasibility Study of User-Network Optimisation to Minimize Carbon Emissions** The aim of Phase 1 is to assess the technical feasibility and commercial potential of "GoGreen", a personalised travel a...

    Funded by: Innovate UK