In an exclusive interview with GovToday, Paul Osbourne, Director of School Travel dicusses cost effective transport plans for local authorities.

Can we do more?

In one of the recent televised ministerial debates, a questioner from the audience brought the matter of climate change down to the individual level, "What have you personally done to reduce your carbon footprint?"

Faced with the global challenge of climate change - and as part of our wider commitment to sustainable development - it is clear that building a cleaner, greener future for Britain means building a low carbon future. Consequently, all of us, whatever our role in the transport sector, have a duty to champion low carbon technology and behaviour as part of our wider responsibility to help this country meet its ambitious, but essential, climate change obligations.

Cycling has the potential to play a major role in the UK's transport network. However, currently only two per cent of our journeys are made by bike, a stark contrast with the Netherlands where 27 per cent of all journeys are by bike.

 The UK motor industry is committed to reducing the environmental impact of its products and production processes.

"The evidence shows that climate change is occurring and that it will continue to have far-reaching effects on the UK's people and places, economy, society and environment...We welcome the opportunity for local government to lead the response at a local level, encouraging and helping local residents, local businesses and other organisations to reduce their energy costs, to reduce congestion, to adapt to the impacts of climate change, to improve the local environment and to deal with fuel poverty in our communities."

Citroën's philosophy regarding low emissions vehicles is straightforward. Why take a difficult and expensive engineering route when significant green gains are achievable more affordably using conventional technology?

It is commendable that the Government and in turn Local Authorities are now taking seriously the issue of carbon emissions and the subsequent environmental impact.

By addressing the issue, and making it known publicly that they ARE addressing the issue, it is helping to publicise the known impact to a wider and more public audience.

With transport accounting about a quarter of CO2 emissions there is an obvious need to target this area when looking for reductions.

When considering alternative fuels as well as the obvious environmental issues, reliability and infrastructure of supply along with cost must be considered.