The rush of significant news stories lately with potentially major implications for transport consultants and their clients – not least the Spending Review – might make it understandable that the climate crisis hasn’t always been at the very top of the headlines recently. 

However, this should not detract from the urgent need for well-informed and suitably targeted action. This much has been underscored by the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT), which has issued a new report arising from its “CLIMATES” initiative. 

What is CIHT’s CLIMATES initiative? 

The membership body for transportation professionals launched its CLIMATES initiative in September 2024. The initials stand for “Changing Landscapes for Infrastructure and Mobility: Assessing Transport and Environment Scenarios”. 

According to CIHT chief executive Sue Percy, CLIMATES was commissioned to ensure the learned society’s members and the broader highways and transportation sector “could help shape how we deliver our commitment on positive climate action.” 

Since the CLIMATES initiative came into being, hundreds of people have participated in a series of one-day workshops, as well as an in-depth survey, to explore what the future of transport and the environment could look like. 

CIHT has said that such activities are also aimed at helping to answer what it has described as the “exam question” for the initiative. 

That question is: “In an uncertain world, what priority actions in highways and transportation should we double-down on in the next three years to meet the unfolding challenges of climate change as we look out to 2035 and beyond?” 

An urgent call to action with relevance throughout the transport sector 

Ms Percy continued: “The scale and complexity of the climate crisis can at times feel overwhelming. It is easy to think that individual efforts are too small to make a meaningful difference. 

“The recommendations that we have outlined in this report aim to create a pathway to change that will require support from across the sector and beyond.” 

The 7 recommendations that the final CIHT CLIMATES report sets out 

With analysis having now been undertaken on the input to the aforementioned workshops and surveys, a CIHT CLIMATES report has been put together and published. 

The report presents seven recommendations, including: 

  • CIHT should enhance training and development to ensure transport professionals are equipped with the skills and leadership they require to drive climate initiatives.  
  • The sector should work with effective communicators to promote the benefits of climate action to the public. 
  • Governments must show progress on decarbonisation, in addition to transparently aligning transport plans with expert climate advice. Meanwhile, it is crucial for professional bodies to provide oversight and challenge. 
  • The ways in which Government and professionals work together on climate goals need to be reviewed and improved, encompassing both top-down and bottom-up approaches. 
  • Priorities for transport investment should be shifted. The report urges a reform of investment appraisal, so that low-carbon outcomes, resilience, and long-term wellbeing are emphasised. 
  • Climate action should be prioritised in national transport strategies. The report states that climate action should be placed at the core of the UK’s Integrated National Transport Strategy, linking it to economic and social benefits. 
  • There is a need to identify and apply fiscal measures that account for the full societal costs of transport, taking account of the effects on different groups. 

Concluding, Professor Glenn Lyons – president at the CIHT – stated: “The set of seven recommendations for doubling down on climate action must all be acted upon – the whole will be greater than the sum of the parts in the contribution this can make to system change.” 

Reach out today to our complete transport planning consultancy 

To find out more about the tailored and informed guidance that our own transport consultants can provide as you look to realise the potential of your projects, please enquire today to your closest Transport Planning Associates (TPA) office.