A recent report, commissioned in 2006 by the Department for Transport into the public's attitude towards global warming and transport, has highlighted the failures of the Government current strategy to reduce UK emissions.

 

The report, written by a team of UK experts on energy, transport and human psycology, found that "information is necessary but not sufficient to encourage individual action."

 

The team warns that despite individuals attitude towards global warming might change this would not automatically lead to a change in behaviour. This is know as the attitude-behaviour gab and identified in the report as one of the "greatest challenges facing the public climate change agenda."

 

The ineffectiveness of direct interventions such as national information campaigns that aim to change individuals behaviour are also underlined by the 40 page report.

 

A study into an awareness campaign in Scotland revealed that only 8% of the target audience had considered changing their behaviour. So while the campaign raised the awareness of global warming it did little to change the behaviour of individuals and reduce emissions in general.

 

The report concludes that the most effective way of changing behaviour is by indirect means such as green taxes and other environmental schemes that financially motivate individuals to buy a smaller car, install energy efficient light bulbs or otherwise save energy - throug the reports authors agree that the effect of such measures are long term.

 

The report was welcomed by environment organisations as it provided new evidence in the case against the Government's strategy on how to deal with global warming and cut CO2 emissions.

 

"It is now clear why the Government's information campaigns and voluntry approach to cutting CO2 emissions has failed. While the UK population may be well informed - few is actually going to react to the information and make changes to they way they live their lives," said Carbon-info.org's Chairman Flemming Bermann.

 

Stephen Joseph, Transport 2000's executive director, said that the Governments transport policy and general approach to tackling global warming was "not working."