Everything Counts: Why transport infrastructure emissions matter for decision makers

The construction and maintenance of new infrastructure involves the release of greenhouse gas emissions, in this case carbon dioxide. Emissions are released when fossil fuels are used to mine, refine, manufacture and transport materials, and to carry out the construction process. We refer to these emissions as ‘embodied emissions’. There is also carbon released to fuel the operation of the infrastructure, e.g. lighting or signalling. At a national scale, the accounting responsibility for almost all these embodied emissions rests with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), whilst the tailpipe emissions from vehicles rests with the Department for Transport (DfT). Promoters of new infrastructure schemes need to take account of both embodied and tailpipe emissions, yet integrated assessments are not commonplace, particularly at the early strategic stage in decision-making. This briefing sets out the key findings from an analysis of the embodied carbon in road and rail infrastructure expansion, which have been applied to several case studies.