Road-building spree will derail UK’s net zero targets, warn campaigners

Rush hour traffic on the M6 motorway near Walsall in the West Midlands. There are 32m cars on the UK’s roads and they are growing in number and size. Photograph: VISION4RY-L4NGU4GE/Getty Images/iStockphoto

The UK’s net zero targets will be missed because of a planned “road-building spree” by the Department for Transport, campaigners have said.

Officials had to edit the department’s “transport decarbonisation plan” to add 26 megatonnes of carbon emissions because of an oversight regarding polluting hybrid vehicles, and projections for an increase in van traffic.