An Evidence Based Review of Public Attitudes to Climate Change and Transport Behaviour

The message being put out around this new Dept of Transport report (228 pages) entitled "An Evidence Based Review of Public Attitudes to Climate Change and Transport Behaviour" is that "Public ignorant of transport climate change link" and that "Changes to transport policy are the least publicly acceptable way of tackling climate change".

The study, commissioned by the Department for Transport (DfT), analysed public attitudes to climate change and travel behaviour. It found that knowledge of the link between the two is weak.

Raising awareness of this link is necessary to attract support for policies to reduce carbon emissions, but is not enough to change behaviour on its own, the research claimed. Policies introducing financial penalties within transport are the least supported, the researchers discovered.

However, support increases considerably when the revenues raised are earmarked for re-investment in infrastructure, the report states.

The report recommends that communication resources should be targeted at specific groups of people, rather than attempting a one-size-fits-all approach.

Resources would be better spent encouraging those already using alternative types of transport to use them more often, rather than on those who have no intention doing so.