ADEPT Live Labs 2 publishes groundbreaking decarbonisation behavioural report
A groundbreaking new report has been published today, 23rd April, that reveals how behavioural change can significantly accelerate decarbonisation across the UK’s local roads.
Now in its third and final year, the ADEPT Live Labs 2 programme has taken a significant step forward with the publication of a Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) report, recommending how changes in behaviour can drive decarbonisation of local road networks across the UK.
ADEPT Live Labs 2: Decarbonising Local Roads in the UK is a three-year, UK-wide £30 million programme funded by the Department for Transport that aims to decarbonise the local highway network. The Live Labs 2 programme is critical because:
- More than 200 Local Highway Authorities across the UK are responsible for maintaining 430,000 km of local highways, which represents 97% of all roads.
- The UK spends over £4bn each year on maintaining, developing and improving these local roads.
- This generates an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of CO2e each year or 1.4% of the UK’s domestic transport carbon footprint, a figure which will only rise as more vehicles decarbonise.
- Whilst more than 80% of local authorities have declared a climate emergency, this impact is largely uncalculated and is not yet done so consistently.
The whole system underpinning local highways is complex with many players influencing decisions. The Live Labs 2 Commissioning Board which steers the programme, therefore appointed behaviour insights experts BIT to undertake a study to understand this landscape and make recommendations to enable change across the highways sector to enable the rapid and widespread acceleration of asset decarbonisation.
The BIT report is the next step and concludes that there is no ‘quick fix,’ emphasising that time, investment and commitment from various organisations are required for a low carbon, transport future.
Solutions include:
- Reducing the use of competitive bidding for funds.
- A strategic spatial plan for UK local highways and infrastructure.
- Better communicating of funding availability and provision of tailored support.
- Creation of a local highways’ expertise hub.
- Incorporating decarbonisation requirements into contracts.
- Building psychological safety, whilst encouraging risk taking and experimentation.
The report stresses that, given its strategic position, ADEPT can play an important role as a catalyst for change across the highways infrastructure sector.
Additional solutions are recommended, including:
- Guaranteed funding for extended periods rather than short-term grants to enable local highways authorities to be more strategic in their planning.
- Support for public-private financial partnership models.
- Creating an appetite for green materials by evidencing short to medium-term benefits.
- Conducting a skills audit and providing targeted decarbonisation, innovation, carbon literacy/evaluation and procurement training.
- Offering government subsidies for low carbon discounts in tenders.
- Building a national network of ‘would-be innovators.’
- Developing an innovative impact modelling tool.
Neil Gibson, Chair of the Live Labs 2 Commissioning Board, said: “This vital work on organisational behaviour explores some of the upstream and downstream change that is necessary to embed asset based decarbonisation across all activities in the local roads industry and continues the conversation around whether we can afford not to do anything.
“The findings from the report are currently being reviewed by the Commissioning Board, ADEPT and the Department for Transport to determine the next steps in how shifts in behaviour can be monitored.
“I’d like to encourage everyone invested in the future of sustainable infrastructure to join us at the upcoming online mini Expo, where we will share further insights from this report and demonstrate how action can accelerate our journey towards decarbonised local roads”.
The report can be downloaded here: www.adeptnet.org.uk/bit-report-live-labs-2
The Live Labs 2 mini Expo will take place online on 30th April 10-12:00am: for more information and to book your place visit https://www.adeptnet.org.uk/events/livelabs2-mini-expo2025
